


Like Violence

by Fayaheda



Series: Kerek Collection [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Allison Argent, Alternate Universe, Amends, Beta Derek Hale, Comas - Freeform, Comfort, Demonic Higher Beings, Drugs, Emotional Manipulation, Evil Derek Hale, Evil Lydia Martin, Evil Peter Hale, Evolved Derek Hale, Explicit Language, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Forgiveness, Hurt, Magical Braeden (Teen Wolf), Magical Drugs, Magical Stiles Stilinski, McCall Pack, Mild Sexual Content, Mystical Drugs, Nice Kate Argent, Older Everyone, Possessed Lydia Martin, Possession, Prison, Reunions, Self-Loathing, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Strong Violence, Temporary Evil Derek Hale, Triggers, True Alpha Scott McCall, True Love, True Mates, Vampires, Werejaguar Kate Argent, Whipped Stiles Stilinski, Witch Braeden (Teen Wolf), Wolf Derek Hale, black magic, magical comas, mental manipulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:25:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fayaheda/pseuds/Fayaheda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:</p><p>'Can you please just do a prompt where Kate is good (for once) and was forced into the whole Hale fire by Gerard, and went to prison for it, because she was too scared of him to come clean about what really happened? Also make it a Derek and Kate romance/fluff type reunion thing where Derek goes kind of crazy or evil or feral or whatever, and Kate's the only one who can bring him back??? Make it your own, but this is what I'd like to see, if possible. Thank you SO, SO much!!!'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:
> 
> 'Can you please just do a prompt where Kate is good (for once) and was forced into the whole Hale fire by Gerard, and went to prison for it, because she was too scared of him to come clean about what really happened? Also make it a Derek and Kate romance/fluff type reunion thing where Derek goes kind of crazy or evil or feral or whatever, and Kate's the only one who can bring him back??? Make it your own, but this is what I'd like to see, if possible. Thank you SO, SO much!!!'
> 
> Yeah... So here I am.
> 
> The whole prison thing was kind of tricky so, I decided to go back to the Buffy and Angel series of Faith being locked away.
> 
> Lemme know your thoughts?
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> :)

[Scott's and Allison's Apartment - Midnight...]

"This thing isn't gonna stop until every single one of us is dead!" Stiles shrieks, flails considerably as he shoots the sour wolf a pointed glare.

"So we just run away?" Derek scoffs at the mere absurdity of such a notion. He's a born fighter, after all. "I don't think so."

"Caleb is planning to permanently block out the Sun. It's not just us that he plans to kill." Chris explains with a heavy sigh.

"Which means," Allison adds, "That Beacon Hills, as well as the rest of this side of the world are literally going to be a playground for the vampires."

"Great. We're all gonna die." Liam chirps sarcastically, wearing a pleasant smile.

"Not if I can help it." Scott says, ever defiant to his very last breath.

"You can't, dude." Stiles shoots his best fucking friend forever a withering look.

Scott frowns, keeps his mouth shut. But he still doesn't agree.

They've been through worse, haven't they?

+

[California Women's Correction Facility - 2 Days Earlier...]

"Four-nine-seven coming out!"

Kate rolls her eyes, as the metal door slowly slides shut behind her. She glances around in the yard, seeing a few scattered groups of other women - her "fellow jail buddies" as she liked to call them.

"Argent, I don't want any trouble outta you!"

Kate smirks up at the guard who calls down to her, holds up her hands in surrender before slowly walking off towards the mini gym. As usual, she goes for the large weight, pulls it up with ease as she sits on the bench and gazes out into the distance, out to freedom. She could easily take it, she knows this, but she also knows that she doesn't deserve it.

A few more minutes pass before Kate senses another presence quickly approaching her. She looks up in time to see the biggest, meanest women in the joint storming over to her, wearing her usual thunderous glare. Kate arches a brow, but glances away and pretends not to notice her. She doesn't want any trouble.

However, that isn't the case for her, unfortunately, as the other woman reaches swiftly into her pocket and pulls out a small dagger.

Kate notices the dagger, of course, though, she's more curious as to where Sally got a fricking ancient looking blade like that.

Sally swipes the knife towards the blonde, but Kate's ready for her, simply lifts the weight up and hits her in the face with it. Sally groans loudly as she stumbles back, but quickly manages to compose herself.

Kate tosses the heavy weight onto the sandy beside her, huffs her hair out of her face as she glances boredly over at the bigger woman. "Okay, Sal, you got my attention. What'd you want?"

"It's actually nothing personal, this time." Sally informs, a sadistic, blood-hungry grin slowly spreading across her thin lips. She darts forward again, and again, the blonde is ready for her.

Kate easily grabs the blade from her grasp, tosses that, too, to the side in the sand. She then, swirls around and lands a hard kick to the woman's chest, sending her flying backwards.

Sally lands a few meters away, dazed and barely conscious as she let's out a series of quiet, pain-filled groans.

It's then, that (conveniently) the guards suddenly come out of nowhere, finally taking the situation into their own hands.

"Alright, break it up!" Eddie shouts, pointing his gun towards the crowd that's formed throughout the fight. "Back the shit up!"

Lance tucks his gun away, bends down to pick up the dagger.

"It was self defence. SHE attacked ME first." Kate explains, raising her hands in defence when both guards look her way.

"Yeah, I saw what happened." Eddie nods in confirmation when Lance glances to him in question.

"Wait, you saw?" Kate glares at him. 'Pussy-ass bitch!' And if only she could say that to his face without getting another beating from the guards.

"Hey! It took me by surprise, okay?" Eddie shoots her an offended look. "I mean, who'd be crazy enough to try to take YOU out?"

Kate merely shoots him one last glare before storming off back towards the building, back to the peace of her cell.

+

[Scott's and Allison's Apartment - Three Days Later...]

"He killed her!" Stiles wails, eyes wide and frantic.

"What!? Who!? Who killed who!? What!?" Scott's mouth is wide open, eyes slowly going as wide as his best friend's.

"Derek!" Stiles huffs, glares mildly as he tries to get his own words out between gasping breaths. Man, he hates running for his life. And he should be used to it by now. "Derek killed that girl I was on a date with! Seriously, man, he came outta fucking nowhere, and he was with Caleb and Caleb was all like, "How about a first taste, Derek?" in that stupid posh English voice of his and then, Derek punched me in the face, and the next thing I know, he's snapping Gabby's neck before Caleb's foot comes down on my face!!!" He motions angrily to the black eye he's now sporting.

"It's not Derek!!" Allison exclaims as she and her father suddenly burst into the apartment.

"Pretty fucking sure it is." Stiles glares pointedly.

Allison rolls her eyes, but Chris is the one to tell them, "Caleb's glamoured Derek."

"But... Vampires can't glamour werewolves." Scott notes, while looking incredibly confused. Nothing different there.

"Vampires as old as Caleb can." Chris says. "Allison and I finally manage to ruffle up some info' on this guy. He's almost three-thousand years old."

"Three-thou -" Stiles gapes. "Holy shit, dude..."

+

[Two Days Later...]

Derek chuckles lightly, almost sarcastically as he let's his keen nose lead him into the darkness of the forest, let's the trail of fresh human blood lead him right onto the land where the burnt out shell of his house that once was stands miserably, now.

Caleb eases himself slowly out of the darkness, from behind the trees, reveals himself to the insolent wolf.

Derek smirks when he notices the angry expression in the black orbs of the ancient vampire, knows and loves the fact that it's because of him. "Is this how you treat a new friend?" He motions towards the freshly drained young woman at the vampire's feet, barely out of her teens. "Kill the girl I was chasing, then lure me out here with the scent of her blood?" He shoots the vampire a deeply unimpressed look.

Caleb scoffs bitterly, if he'd had any idea that this wolf would be so disobedient, he would have just killed him then and there. But the fact remains, he could still prove useful, and Caleb isn't stupid. "We were never going to be friends, Derek."

"Yeah, I know." Derek's smirk widens as he nods. "But calling you a pompous, English cunt DID seem a little on the nose." He grins when the vampire's glare only intensifies. "Oh, come on! I'm only fucking around with you. You just need to lighten up, man."

"The truth is," Caleb says, ignores the wolf's petty quips. "I didn't bring you here to fight. That wasn't my instruction."

"Your instruction?" Derek asks, looking all too amused.

Caleb nods. "My master has requested you."

"Your master?" Derek's amusement only seems to increase.

Caleb nods again. "Me glamouring you into your true nature, blocking out the Sun, letting the demons flood back into humanity..." He grins, absurdly, proudly, even. "All the designed by my master to bring you forth and keep you. You have great potential..." He rolls his eyes. "Apparently."

"Hell of a plan!" Derek says, obviously humouring the vampire. "So, when do I get to meet the big brain of my liberation?"

"In time." Caleb smirks smugly. "For now, you will take your orders through me."

Derek scoffs. "Or, here's an idea; no, I won't." He smirks when the vampire's own smirk instantly drops into another glare. "Tell your boss that I'm very grateful, but I do NOT take grocery lists from messenger boys." He states with a pointed look.

"I WILL teach you respect!" Caleb sputters in fury, his fangs lengthening instantly.

"Whatever!" Derek scoffs even louder. "Look, you may have fooled Scott and his pathetic pack of miserable losers, but I don't go for having my strings yanked and I DON'T like being kept in the dark!" He finally snaps, his eyes blazing blue. "Unless it's full moon, anyway." He adds as he straightens his black, leather jacket out and collects himself with a deep breath, eyes returning to normal.

And Caleb simply has no choice, but to glare murderously at the werewolf as he marches off into the darkness of the forest.

+

[California Women's Correction Facility - Three Days Later...]

Kate's confused. She never gets any phone calls, let alone any visits. So when Eddie approaches her cell and tells her that her lawyer is here to see her, she doesn't really know what to expect.

What she really doesn't expect, however, is her big brother sitting there behind that double glazed glass, waiting just for her.

Kate glances towards Eddie, who merely shrugs at her, then sighs, and finally walks over and takes a seat the other side of the glass.

Chris sends her a small smile, and tries not to feel too stung when she doesn't return the affection.

Kate picks up her phone, her brother following suit, and surprisingly, is the first to speak. "Eddie told me my lawyer was here to see me." She says, her voice calm, but showing no emotion whatsoever. "You my lawyer, now, Chris?" She arches a brow, looks slightly, almost amused.

Chris smiles again, because no matter what, she's his baby sister, and he loves her. "Hello, Kate."


	2. We Need You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris simply looks her right in the eye as he replies, "We need you."

"How are you?" Chris knows that's probably a stupid question. He knows she's more than capable than looking after her - even before the whole turning into a werejaguar thing - but he still worries about her. Of course he does.

"Haven't killed anybody yet, if that's what you mean." Kate bites back a smirk, because she knows he's really asking how she's handling her shifts, while locked away in here. "I'm still alive." She shrugs, then stares curiously at him. "Although, I never thought I'd live long enough to see you paying me a visit."

Chris sighs heavily, looks incredibly guilty. "It took me a long time to figure things out after you handed yourself in. I wasn't exactly in my right frame of mind. And I'm..." He stares sincerely at her through the glass. "I'm really sorry, Kate. I had no idea that dad -"

"It's fine... Really, it's fine." Kate dismisses the subject all too quickly. Even after almost eight years, it's still a pretty sore one for her. Seriously, she'd rather openly talk about how Peter Hale slit her throat and turned her into some fucked up monster. "Let's just move on." She shoots him a pointed look, begs out a sheepish, "Please?"

Chris huffs quietly, but nods.

"How's Allison?" Kate asks, mainly to fill the silence.

Chris nods, smiles lightly as he replies. "Good. She's doing really well in school, and we're doing okay since Victoria."

Kate nods, smiles softly as she pictures her niece's beautiful, ever sparkling, dark brown orbs. "So, why're you really here, Chris?" She finally asks after a few moments of awkward silence, wears a knowing look. Because of course she knows him better than anybody, and vice versa.

"A lot's happened. Especially in the last few weeks." Chris begins.

Kate nods. "Well, whatever it is, it suits you. I mean, you're looking all gruff and handsome." She gives an approving smile of his overall appearance.

Chris rolls his eyes at her cheeky grin, but can't help smiling lightly in return. "Do you know what's been going on throughout California?" He asks, a more serious look on his face as he finally gets down to business, to tell her what he came here for, really.

Kate nods, sounds all too bored as she replies, "I've watched the news, sure. Never-ending night, rain of fire, massive earthquakes..." She smirks teasingly as she adds, "I bet Team True Alpha Scott McCall really have their hands full."

Chris scoffs, laughs lightly, and shakes his head. "You don't even know the HALF of it."

"Uh-huh. And you're here to fill in the blanks for me." Kate nods, leans forward and shoots him a stern look. "Why?"

Chris simply looks her right in the eye as he replies, "We need you."

Kate scoffs loudly, retorts sarcastically, "Well, I hate to piss on your paper for you, Chris, but I'm KIND of unavailable right now." She motions to the room their sitting in as she leans back in her chair. "Maybe you oughtta check back in a few DECADES, when my parole finally comes up."

"Listen, Kate," Chris huffs, because he's not stupid, he knew this wouldn't be easy, convincing her, not busting her out, which WAS the easy part. "You need to know -"

"It's the end of the world AGAIN, I know, okay?" Kate rolls her eyes, but nods in understanding. "But the LAST thing you need is ME joining your little pack." She huffs, tries not to sound too miserable about how right she is, for once. "Besides, Scott and Derek and the hyper kid will come shining through in the end. Just like they always do."

"Derek's gone, Kate." Chris says, because he knows it will get her attention. And it does.

Kate stops talking instantly, her expression, though, surprisingly calm, if not, slightly confused.

Chris continues, his voice low, but clear. "He's been glamoured by an ancient vampire and it's making Derek crazy with bloodlust and power. Which is why we need YOU. You're the only one who's had plenty of experience dealing with vampires... We need you, Kate."

Kate stares calmly at her big brother as she finally answers, just as calmly, "Chris, step away from the glass."

Chris doesn't bother hanging up the phone like his sister calmly does as she stands. He simply tosses the phone aside as rises from his seat, causing his chair to topple over loudly.

Kate doesn't hesitate as she balls her hands and throws herself through the window, smashing it with ease. She rolls into the other side of the room, and quickly leaps back up onto her feet.

Eddie and two of the other guards quickly rush towards the blonde, ready with to take her down.

Kate knows they will shoot her if they have to, so she doesn't risk it. She simply grabs a hold of her brother's wrist before dragging him towards the nearest window.

His baby sister takes the hit of the fall as they land on their backs, smashing the car below, but Chris grunts, feeling it all the same. Thanks to her, though, he's not dead, and he smiles painfully as he rolls off of her and onto the sidewalk.

"You okay?" Kate asks as she hops gracefully down beside him.

Chris grins at her as he replies, "Never better."

"Good." Kate smirks. "Now, let's get the fuck outta here before Eddie beats my ass for the forth time this week, and this was all for nothing."

Chris merely let's out a pain-filled chuckle as he follows after her as fast as he can. 'Damn. Shoulda made a joke about cats always landing on their feet...'

+

[Lydia's Studio Apartment - Meanwhile...]

"Is this really necessary?" Lydia arches a brow as she watches the spark sprinkle his dust over her bedroom window seal.

"Uh, yes. Yes, it is." Stiles nods, shoots her a "duh!" look. "And after I'm done here, I'm going round to my dad's house to do the same. In fact, I'm doing everybody's homes... And maybe even the hospital and the Sheriff's station."

Lydia merely rolls her eyes.

"Are you sure it's even gonna work?" Liam asks, arches a brow and looks all too unimpressed.

"Hey," Stiles shoots him a pointed glare. "Nobody asked you."

Liam merely glares back at him, briefly flashes his eyes, to which the spark only scoffs and the Beta's glare only hardens.

"Okay, that's the last window. Here we go." Stiles takes a step back, closes his eyes and tries to focus. "'Violence restrained, all beings disarmed. For all beings within these walls, no harm. Protection and safety, this charm doth endow to make this shelter a sanctuary now...'" He opens his eyes, frowns deeply when he feels no difference, no usual buzz in the air around him when he uses magic.

"Is that it?" Liam arches a brow, looks even more unimpressed. He was actually hoping to see something cool. Magic is cool, he doesn't care if that makes him childish or whatever.

"I don't get it..." Stiles scowls, looks rather annoyed, now.

"Let's test it out." Lydia doesn't even bother asking, she simply reaches forward and slaps the young werewolf across the face. Hard.

"Ah! What the fuck!?" Liam squeals rather pathetically as he stumbles back from the redhead, clutching as his quickly reddened cheek.

"Nope," Lydia chirps, glances back to the spark, ignores the wolf's whines. "It didn't work."

"Oh, damn," Stiles rolls his eyes as he happens to glance back to the window. He reaches forward, smears the dust along the window, and finally, a bright white light flashes, the air rippling for a few seconds. Stiles steps back, grins proudly as he says, "I missed a spot."

And that just serves both the wolf and the banshee right as they stare at the spark in amazement.

+

[Meanwhile...]

"Okay, so Stiles got possessed by an ancient evil fox demon, tried to kill everybody, almost did, Lydia's a banshee, finds a lot of dead bodies, Scott's made a little Beta, who's got anger issues - that's just great, by the way - Derek dated their teacher, who turned out to be an evil Druid, Peter tried to kill you all, AGAIN - what a surprise - so you and Scott locked him up in some crazy house - kudos - Allison's dating the target on everybody's evil list, Derek's now gone insane - because why not? It's his turn now - and it trying to kill you all." Kate finally takes a moment to breath, then arches a brow over at her brother as she pulls off her horrid orange shirt. "How am I doing so far?"

"Uh... Yeah, that's..." Chris puffs out a chuckle, and nods. "You're pretty much right on the mark."

"Oh, good." Kate airs as she finally slips into something a little more comfortable. "So," She pulls on her leather jacket, touched that he'd even keep it after all this time. "Can I just ask you one thing?" She then crawls into the passenger's seat beside him after pulling on her combat boots. "What the fuck is going on with you people? Seriously."

Chris chuckles at that. "I told you, things are pretty crazy right now."

Kate shakes her head with a sigh. "Just gas to the flames, that's all I'm sayin'."

Chris notices her glancing out of the window every few moments. "I wouldn't worry about the cops coming after you. Not yet anyway. With everything that's going on, I doubt you even register on their radar."

But that's not what Kate's thinking about. Far from it. "I'm not gonna kill him, Chris." Her voice is soft, though, only because her throat is already starting to close up on her. "I don't care what you thought you sprung me outta the joint for." She shakes her head, still glancing out of the window. "Derek's the only one in my entire life who's never given up on me. Even after everything that I did to him. I'm the one who told him never to visit me in there, that he should just make everybody else think it was really the other way around..."

"I know." Chris says after a few moments of actually comfortable silence.

Kate finally turns to look at him, confusion in her eyes.

"That's why it has to be YOU." Chris says, looks at her briefly, sincerely before turning his attention back to the road.

+

[Stiles' Apartment - 2 Hours Later...]

"Oh, would you guys stop worrying? The spell's working. They all are. I've got the migraine to prove it and you're not helping." Stiles glares at the wolves for making him even dizzier with their pacing.

"Yeah, but even so," Scott says. "If Derek or Compton decide to show up, I still wanna be ready."

"I second that." Liam nods. "Strongly."

Stiles merely rolls his eyes, whereas Lydia smirks in amusement at all three "men".

"We're ready, now." Chris announces as he stalks through the front door with a very familiar blonde following slowly behind him.

"Whoa." Kate arches a brow as she takes in her surroundings, then shoots the spark an impressed look. "Sweet crib, my man."

Stiles eyes widen, his mouth slight hung open. He doesn't know whether to be afraid or not.

Lydia looks shocked, slightly uneasy, also, but keeps her mouth shut. For now anyway.

"Kate?" Scott looks more surprised than anything else, like maybe he knows something more, and Stiles will have to ask his best friend, his brother about that later.

Chris nods.

"Yeah..." Kate smiles lightly, waves sheepishly. "Hi."

And Liam looks mostly confused. "Who?"


	3. The Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What about 'the Code'?"

"Liam," Scott glances to his Beta then over to the hunteress, slash, whatever-the-heck-she-is-now. "This is Kate. She's Chris' sister, and a hunter."

"Oh, she's THAT Kate." Liam smiles sheepishly when the others all glance at him. "Stiles told me some stuff." And Liam can only smirk in amusement when the spark shoots him a glare for dropping him in it.

Scott rolls his eyes, narrows his eyes in a half-hearted glare over at his best friend. "Of course did."

And then, it's Stiles' turn to smile sheepishly at the Alpha. "The little shit gets this stuff outta me when I'm drunk, I swear, dude. It's NOT my fault..."

Scott rolls his eyes again, but this time, can't help smirking in amusement.

"So, who's the newbie?" Kate arches a brow over at the Alpha.

But it's Chris who answers. "This is Liam Dunbar. He's Scott first and only Beta."

Liam smiles politely, gives the stunning blonde a small wave. And damn, she really IS stunning, he thinks, briefly.

"What about 'the Code'?" Kate asks, then quickly adds, "I mean, I know that I'm the last person to be talking about following codes," She smiles timidly at the True Alpha. "But I'm just wondering. Curiosity killed the cat and all."

Scott chuckles at that, Chris smirking in amusement, also.

"It's okay," Lydia finally pipes on, still not comfortable with this woman being here. "Scott did it to save Liam's life. There was no other way he would have survived otherwise."

Kate nods. "Fair enough."

"So, you're like, some sorta werecat, now?" Stiles asks lamely, looks sorely unimpressed.

"Technically, I guess." Kate nods. "Although, I guess I'm more of a werejaguar." And yes, she knows how stupid that sounds. How crazy, but hey, this is Beacon Hills, where anything (literally) can happen.

Stiles still looks rather unimpressed. "You're a werejaguar? Seriously? Is there like, a weresomething for everything, now? Next, you'll be telling me that werebears exist."

"They do." Both Kate and Chris reply in unison, then, sharing a small smirk.

Stiles' eyes widen incredulously at that. "For real?"

"Kate here, is La Loba." Chris says, stares pointedly at both the best friends. "At least, I think so." He adds with a slight frown.

"As in, "the Bone Woman"!?" Stiles practically shrieks.

"The what, now?" Kate looks all too confused. Is she missing something here?

Chris turns to his baby sister, smiles rather sheepishly. "Another reason we need you. There's a very high possibility that you'll be able to control the Berserkers that Peter's controlling as we speak."

"Beserkers?" Kate's eyes widen slightly at that. Of course she's heard of them. Her widespread knowledge of the supernatural is one of the very few things that she can actually thank her sick excuse for a father for.

"Look, Kate," Chris sighs heavily, only to have her cut him off straight away.

"I came back to help Derek. That's all." Kate tells him, shoots him a stern look.

Scott arches a brow upon hearing that, surprised that she still cares. But then again, why would she have agreed to come back if she didn't?

Stiles smiles at that, because yeah, he kind still doesn't get along with sourass werewolf all that much, but he still cares about the idiot, as if he were his own brother. Albeit, a slightly creepy, always grumpy and stern brother that doesn't know how to have fun. But here Kate is, like she still cares. And maybe she still does, Stiles thinks, deep down, under that hard expression and those cold eyes.

"Why the hell did you even bring her here?" Lydia finally snaps, glares momentarily at the blonde before shifting that glare onto both Chris and Scott. She's not stupid, she knows Scott knew where Chris had disappeared to today, even if he didn't actually expect Kate to agree to come back.

"Lydia," Stiles shoots her a slightly scalding look.

"What!?" Lydia snaps again, now, glaring at the spark. "I'm not sorry, because am I the only one here who HASN'T forgotten what she did to Derek's family!?"

Kate takes a step back, stung by the words, even when she knows she deserves every bit of the venomous tone coming from the angry banshee.

"You don't know everything." Scott tells her, shoots her a disapproving look, as if silently willing her to just shut the heck up for one fricking second!

"Oh, really?" Lydia retorts snootily, shifts her glare back to the Alpha. "And exactly WHAT don't I know?" She arches a perfectly shaped strawberry brow, stares expectantly at him. "I know that she went to jail for killing a whole bunch of people, and is supposed to stay there for the rest of her fucking life!"

"Uh, murdered three, twenty-five to life, for the record." Kate pipes up, stands her ground as she finally finds that confidence inside of her, that same confidence that only manifested greatly when she turned.

Lydia glares murderously at the blonde, who, to her utter fury, doesn't seem at all bothered by her anger. "So, now you decide to bring the psycho hunter, turned werebitch back to Beacon Hills to start another massacre? That's the best plan you've ever had!"

Scott glares at her. "Lydia!" He growls, which only seems to piss her off even more.

"Fuck you! Don't EVER try to use your stupid ass Alpha voice on me, you giant fur fuck!" Lydia snarls back, points her perfectly manicured, red painted nail at him. "I'm sorry, but this bitch tried to turn my best friend against me, made her turn on all of the people who loved her the most and almost kill them, and I can't be a part of this!"

Scott and Stiles' eyes widen as they watch the redhead storm out of the room before slamming the spark's front door harshly behind her in her hasty exit.

Liam stands awkwardly behind his Alpha, flinching slightly when the door slams.

Chris sighs tiredly before turning back to the spot where his sister once stood. He frowns, glances around, but sees her nowhere in sight. "Kate?"

+

[Later That Night...]

"Are you sure she's gonna show up?" Scott asks.

Chris nods. "That's what she said."

"Hey."

Scott jumps, seeing the blonde suddenly appear out of the darkness beside him. He glares at her. "How'd you do that?"

Liam smirks at his so-called Alpha's so-called stealth.

"Cat's are better creepers than dogs." Kate can't help smirking at the pathetic glare he shoots her. "That wasn't even a joke." Kind of. She finally takes notice of the third male, glares at him instantly. "What's with the nutjob?"

"You two know each other?" Chris is surprised by that, because he thought he knew everything about his baby sister.

Charlie glares at the hunteress. "Lovely to see you again, as well."

Kate scoffs at the vampire's all too clear fake politeness. "Yeah, we know each other. This sack of shit tried to glamour me into killing a whole mess of people when I was going through my first transformations."

Chris glares over at the vampire. Okay, so he won't kill him. Yet, anyway. At least, not until he's served out his complete usefulness.

"Yes," Charlie spits venomously. "Seems that you are immune."

Kate merely rolls her eyes at him, then, glances between the other two. "Again, I'll ask, what's he doing here?"

"Charlie is Caleb's progeny." Scott explains.

Kate nods. "Uh-huh. And what?" She arches a brow at the six-centuries old vampire.

"Let's just say that Caleb and I aren't as close as we used to be." Charlie says simply, glares back at her.

Kate chuckles. "Lemme guess, your vampire daddy's either making you play a game you don't wanna play, or, he's made a new baby vampire, and now, your vampire panties are all in a twist?"

Charlie's glare only intensifies. "A little bit of both, actually. He plans to make an army of vampires to protect him." He scoffs, looks totally outraged by such an idea. "Vampire blood is sacred. It's an elixer of life, the very reason we are able to live forever."

Kate sighs, nods. "Fine, whatever. As long as you play by our rules, you can stay. I see wolf blood on those fangs, and you're dust. We clear?"

Charlie wants to glare (again). Only this time, he can't help smirking lightly. "Crystal."

"Good." Kate gives another nod before raising her large crossbow. "Let's go hunting."

Scott looks slightly alarmed. "Are those -"

"Dipped in kanima venom." Kate smirks. "Don't worry."

Chris scowls at her. "Where did you get -" He eyes her suspiciously. "Did you steal that from Deaton?"

Liam smirks secretly to himself.

Kate shrugs lazily as she replies with a casual, "Yeah." before continuing down the dark alleyway. "Keep your eyes peeled, and no one moves until I say so..."

They get all of three steps before a vampire jumps down from one of the buildings, lands right in front of them.

And before anyone else can react, Charlie flashes towards the other vampire with lightening-quick movements. He grabs the vampire by the throat, instantly raising the wooden stake in his other hand and plunging it into the vampire's heart. Yes, he has no problem killing his own kind. Because vampires are nothing like werewolves.

Kate, in return, grabs the still standing vampire by the throat and shoves him up against the nearest brick wall. "Are you high or just fucking retarded!?" She snaps angrily. "What'd I just say!?"

"He was attacking!" Charlie snaps back, looks utterly outraged, like a child who doesn't know what he's done wrong.

"You thought it was Caleb." Kate says, her tone low and her eyes narrowed up at him. She huffs, but finally let's him go. "He's no good to me. Chris, you should take him back to Stiles' place. Keep an eye on him. Scott will probably be more useful here. No offence."

Chris puffs out a chuckle, shakes his head. "None taken."

"You should probably go, too, Liam." Scott says, gives his Beta that worried look he always gives him.

Liam rolls his eyes. "No." He shakes his in defiance.

Scott scowls lightly. "Liam -"

"No." Liam repeats, wearing a stern look. "You can order me around any other time, sure, but not with this. I'm staying with you. To the end, if it has to be that way. We're pack."

Kate smiles secretly to herself, wishing she could be... Pack.

Scott huffs, but he can't help smiling at his Beta's words. "Alright, fine."

Liam simply smirks triumphantly.

"This is bullshit!" Charlie snaps. "Caleb is my sire! I am NOT letting this idiot babysit me," He ignores Chris' glare. "While you two halflings go off on some half-assed mission!"

Scott glares at the vampire as he tells the werejaguar, "Good luck telling this one where to go and what to do."

"Oh, he'll do what I tell him to." Kate says, shoots the vampire a pointed look of sternness.

Charlie merely scoffs. "Yeah, right!" He tries to brush harshly passed the blonde, but she grabs a hold of his upper arm and shoves him back into the brick wall.

Liam arches a brow, looks more impressed than Scott does, and almost as amused as Chris does.

Charlie looks shocked at her strength for a moment, then, his expression quickly turns back to anger. He tries to lunge at her directly this time, only to have to grab him by the throat again. He tries a final time, but freezes when she holds the crossbow to his chest, right over his still-beating heart.

"I get that you're a superbeing." Kate nods, looks him right in the eyes, because as she says the next words, she knows this vampire's never killed a human in his entire existence. "But are you a murderer?" She just doesn't know why. Not that she cares. "'Cause I am." She adds, shooting him a pointed look as she shoves the point of the arrow closer to his flesh.

The other three males watch in slight amazement as the hot-headed vampire seems to finally back down. Something he's never done.

"If it comes down to either you or Derek and your Maker, I'll be siding with them, 'cause you haven't shown me a thing to make me wanna side with you." Kate says as she finally takes a step back and lowers her weapon.

"Okay." Charlie nods limply, huffs quietly as he trails after Chris as they walk back out of the alleyway.

Liam glances towards his Alpha and smirks as he says, "I like her."

Scott chuckles at that, shakes his head lightly.

+

[20 Minutes Later...]

They reached some old abandoned building finally and finally Scott can't take the silence as he asks, "Do you actually know where you're going?" Then thoughtfully adds, "I can't get a lock on Derek's scent at all." And he doesn't mention Caleb, because he knows vampires have no scent at all, annoyingly.

"Yeah," Kate nods absentminded as she replies, "He's masking it. Werewolves can do that if they practice."

"Oh." Scott frowns. "Well, when we get Derek back I am so gonna get him to teach me that."

Kate smirks lightly as she adds, "And no, I don't really know where I'm going. Just kinda following gut instinct, I guess."

"So, how'd you expect to find them without a scent?" Liam asks all too curiously.

"The old-fashioned way." Kate says. "How'd you think I tracked werewolves as a hunter?"

"Right." Liam nods, blushes slightly with embarrassment.


	4. Threesome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Smile, Kate!" Derek chirps, wearing a wide grin. "I hope you enjoy a threesome."

"Something'll turn up." Kate says absentmindedly as they walk towards an old, abandoned building. "It always does. Especially in this creepy-ass town."

Liam scoffs in amusement at that. Because he totally agrees, of course.

"Like what?" Scott asks, mainly to fill the boring silence as they walk around to the front side of the building.

"Oh, y'know, the usual," Kate airs as she keeps her senses keen for any trouble. "A trail of bodies, tell-tail clues and such..." She trails off when she glances up at the building, her cross-bow slowly lowering when she notices the large banner across the top of the already open front doors. "Maybe a carpet fibre..."

The banner reads: 'WELCOME HOME, KATE!' in large red letters, probably blood, from what Liam can scent anyway. Human blood. And it's fresh, too.

"Great." Scott huffs, clearly annoyed. "So much for the element of surprise."

"We'll just have to come at him from both sides." Kate notes as she raise her cross-bow.

Scott nods. "We'll take the front doors. You take the back."

Kate nods, watches the two wolves creep silently towards the open door before moving to a retreat. She jogs back around to the back of the building, glances up and finds a broken window on the third floor. She quickly straps her cross-bow to her back and begins to climb the wall, using one of the drainpipes.

+

With the town littered with vampires, because of the lack of Sun, Scott and Liam run into a trio of the undead literally after taking three steps into the building.

"Pretty big balls for a werewolf." The shortest vampire snarls.

"Yeah, what're you sniffing around these parts for?" The tallest growls, his black orbs glaring at them both.

"They're here for Derek." The middle vampire bellows out a laugh. "But he's ours, now."

"I don't think so." Scott growls out, eyes quickly switching to red, his claws and canines bared threateningly.

+

Kate huffs as she glances around the dark building, the place is huge, it will take her ages to look for Derek. But she knows he's still here, waiting just for her.

Kate walks around warily, her cross-bow at the ready. And she doesn't have to search for very long, because she finally finds him. Well, hears him.

"Hello, Kate... Good to see you again, dollface..."

Kate's eyes dart around wildly in the darkness, her night vision perfect, but her heart already thudding hard in her chest. His voice echoes throughout the building, ringing loud in her sensitive ears, but he's still nowhere to be seen. And she forgets sometimes, that he was born to this, that he's far more controlled, has far more experience with his power.

"Mmm..." Derek purrs. "You're looking delicious as ever, I see... Y'know, I really DID miss you..."

"Then, what're you waiting for?" Kate asks, finally finds her voice out of nowhere, as well as her confidence. "Come out and gimme a kiss."

Derek chuckles, sounds highly amused, like he's having way too much fun, which he definitely is. "No, no, no!" He sings. "This is MY game, kitten... YOU come to ME..."

Kate narrows her eyes, but plays along as she begins to carefully take a few steps forward.

"That's it, baby... You're getting warmer..."

He chuckles again, and this time, Kate's eyes widen as she swirls around in time to see him finally appear out of the shadows.

"You're smoking hot." Derek grins at her, but it's not that adorable boyish grin he used to give her, more like an, "I'm gonna kill you," grin. "Then again," His eyes trail blatantly up and down her entire form as he checks her out. "You already knew that."

Kate holds her cross-bow up, aims it right at him. She doesn't fire, but she's still ready.

"Honey, I brought a guest home for dinner!" Derek exclaims dramatically, smirks over at the blonde as he says the word "dinner".

Compton appears slowly out of the darkness behind the wolf. He grins at the hunteress as his mouth waters upon inhaling her scent. "What is THIS, Derek?"

Kate narrows her eyes into a hard glare, and instantly aims her cross-bow at the vampire.

+

"Scott!" Liam's eyes widen in horror when he sees two more vampires appear from out of fucking nowhere, all flocking towards his Alpha. He charges angrily, grabs one by the back of the throat and instantly stakes it in the heart, dust piling onto the concrete at the Beta's feet. He then, instantly goes for the next.

Scott throws the vampires off of him, one by one, with great ease. He snarls loudly, slices through one vampire's neck, slicing it's head clean off, reducing it to nothing, but ash.

Liam's eyes widen in amazement, this time. But that's just Scott McCall, he thinks happily as he stakes another vampire, the True Alpha never ceases to amaze him.

+

Kate huffs in annoyance when the vampire simply catches the arrow right before it hits him in the chest. She quickly scrambles to load another, then raises it again, not shooting, but still ready.

"This is Kate Argent. Kate's a hunter, turned werejaguar." Derek sounds like a little kid in a candy store as he glances between the vampire and the blonde. "Kate, say "hi" to the nice ancient vampire."

"You dare to bring a hunter here, now?" Compton glares at the werewolf. Is this dog deficient, he thinks with the utmost irritation.

"Hey, I'm doing you a favour, Chuckles." Derek scowls at the vampire. "I mean, Kate here, well, she's come here to seriously mess up your boss' plans." He says, now looks like a child who's blatantly trying to cause a shit load of trouble.

And of course, with her luck, it works, because Compton's glare quickly shifts onto her instead of the wolf.

Derek only smirks when the blonde glares at him. "So, I guess, the question is; what'd you do, hot-shot?" He arches a brow, tries to bite back a proud smirk.

Compton takes a step forward and Kate instantly shoots her cross-bow again. And again, Compton catches the arrow, and crushes it in his hands before tossing it aside.

Kate, once again, scrambles to load another. However, this time, she runs out of time as the vampire flashes forward, tears her cross-bow out of her hands and tosses that aside, too, before he grabs her by the throat.

"Smile, Kate!" Derek chirps, wearing a wide grin. "I hope you enjoy a threesome."

"Oh, don't worry. You're next!" Kate snarls, her eyes burning blue as she glares back up at the vampire and punches him in the face.

"You promise?" Derek wiggles him eyebrows at her after the vampire punches her back in the face with so much force that it sends her to the ground with a loud, pain-filled groan.

Kate leaps gracefully back onto her feet. "Alright," She nods, knows now that she shouldn't underestimate this vampire. He's an Old One, after all. But she's still going to kick his undead ass. "Let's get it on."

Compton merely scoffs at her as she raises her fists in a fighting stance, is clearly unimpressed. And he has right to be as he darts forward and sends another sharp punch to her face, this time, sending her flying back a few meters.

Kate let's out an angry and highly frustrated snarl as she leaps back up onto her feet. "Oh, you like it rough, huh!?" She let's out another snarl, sends a series of punches and kicks to the vampire, but in her fury, he seems to just take the hits, without even fucking flinching.

"Watch yourself, Compton!" Derek chuckles loudly. "This woman's on fucking fire!"

Compton smirks down at her when she finally pauses with eyes wide. He seizes his opportunity and grabs her by the throat. He sends his own series of hard punches to her face, until he finally draws blood for both nostrils, until he busts both lips wide open and bruises her all over.

Kate gasps as he finally let's go, but he's not done. Before she can even collect herself, he send a sharp kick to her stomach, sends her flying back again.

And meanwhile, Derek watches with a blank expression. Although, he's secretly impressed with her stamina. And her defiance. He can smell her anger and her fear, but to his surprise, he doesn't back down or run away.

Compton darts over to her, grabs her up by the back of the neck. He punches her hard, in the chest, winds her after breaking at least four of her ribs with a satisfyingly series of loud cracks.

"Oh, come on Kate!" Derek pouts. "You're not even trying anymore!"

At this point, Kate can barely keep her eyes open, let alone stand. Since her father, she's never been beaten so badly in her entire fucking life. Seriously, not even a group of eleven prison guards hurt this fucking much!

Compton let's out a breathy chuckle, but he isn't even tired, could do this all night. But he sticks to the plan. "Hey," He whispers tauntingly. "Hey, look at me. Look at me." He waits, because as he predicts, she defiant, even if she's an idiot. And when she does look at him, he sends another hard punch to her face. It's the final punch, and it sends her back to the concrete at his feet.

Kate pants heavily, tries desperately not to pass the fuck out and just have done with it. And if it weren't for Derek's sake, she really just would have.

Derek arches a brow, keeps silent for the moment.

"THIS is all you are?" Compton scoffs as he stands over the hunteress, clearly still very unimpressed. "I had heard that you possess great strength, but there's no real power here that I see." He shakes his head, feels sorely disappointed, because secretly, it would be an advantage to have her on their side.

Kate tries to glare up at him from her mess of broken and bruised limbs, but she doesn't even have the energy to do that. Maybe he's right.

Compton stares vacantly down at her as he speaks, his voice calm. "My master's power is beyond all limits, beyond your petty imagining." And his expression shows his disappointment, rather than him just gloating. "YOU are weak. You are nothing. You could not even defeat ME."

And the worst part is, Kate agrees with him, knows that he's right.

"Damn," Derek sighs. "Ain't that the cold, hard truth?" He shakes his head, clearly having no problem with taunting the blonde. "I mean, would you just look at this guy?"

Compton smirks at the wolf's words, but his eyes are still focussed on the wounded jaguar.

"I mean, he's almost as strong as Superman, what with being an Old One and all." Derek chuckles. "He's got the coolest vampire powers ever. Did you know this guy can warp reality?"

Compton's eyes widen suddenly as he feels a sharp pain in his back.

Derek sends grin over his shoulder as he shoves the wooden stake further in, finally piercing the still-beating heart.

"NOOOO!" Compton's cries are cut off as he sinks to the floor in a pile of dust.

"But he's STILL just a vampire." Derek grins as he swirls the stake casually around through his fingers.

And finally, Kate can no longer keep her eyes open as she slowly sinks into unconsciousness.


	5. No Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No trauma." Kate pipes up, stops him from going any further. "I'm good."

"Scott, look!" Liam points up towards the sky as all of the vampires surrounding them instantly disintegrate into piles of dust on the concrete.

Scott's eyes widen as he glances up to see the heavy black cloud shrouding the Sun slowly dissipating.

Liam glances back to his Alpha, a slightly questioning look on his face.

And Scott can only smile to himself as he mutters the name, "Kate."

"Wow... She did it." Liam shakes his head, let's out a breathy chuckle, but secretly, he's impressed.

+

Derek carelessly treads through the pile of dust that was once the ancient vampire as he whines, "Ah, man! Y'mean killing Compton really DOES bring back the Sun?" He huffs, sounds annoyed, but also looks rather pleased with himself.

Kate had woken up only a few minutes after passing out, unfortunately for her. She's still in danger, she knows this. She can't exactly defend herself from her weakened slump on the floor a few feet away. So she just tries to breathe steady and stay calm. Oh, and think of a way to NOT die. At least, not tonight.

"Anyway," Derek grins over at her. "No hard feelings, huh? I just wanted that asshole to soften you up a little bit." His grin widens, his row of canines showing. "I like my meat nice and tender."

Kate feels herself slowly beginning to heal, and with that, she also feels her anger slowly beginning to return. She growls in annoyance, slowly hauls herself up onto her feet. She sways as she stands, but at least she doesn't topple back over onto her ass.

"You wanna take me on already?" Derek chuckles at the defiant glare she gives him. "Baby, you can barely stand."

"I thought," Kate heaves passed the ache in her throat as she croaks her words out. "This was a threesome."

Derek smiles, a genuine smile, impressed with her tenacity. "It was." He nods, bites back another laugh as he slowly moves closer to her. "But I think Compton went a little rough on you there." He stands in front of her, calm and still, save for his ever expressive orbs. "Besides," He leans in, hides a smirk when he hears the tiny sound of her breath hitching, and not in fear. "I wouldn't wanna make it too easy for myself, now, would I?"

"Kate!?"

Kate suddenly snaps out of her stupor at the sound of the Alpha's voice echoing in the nearby distance.

Derek backs away quickly, but not with a smug smirk and two final words; "Soon, kitten..."

Kate watches him disappear back into the darkness, doesn't even bother to go after him. Even when she knows she should.

"Kate!" Scott appears a few meters behind her suddenly, his eyes wide with horror. "Holy shit! What happened!? Did Derek do this to you!?"

"No." Kate shakes her head, huffs out, "Compton did."

Liam's eyes are wide in horror, also, and Scott doesn't know what the heck to say right now.

Thankfully, Kate speaks up again. "Can we get outta here, now?"

+

Meanwhile, the rest of the pack have gathered in Melissa's backyard, all staring up at their beautiful Sun.

"Check it out. We got our Sun back, guys." Stiles grins brightly up at the beaming star.

"Well, ding-dong, the bastard ancient vampire is FINALLY dead!" Allison cheers.

"She really did it... Hm." Lydia mumbles to herself, looks sorely impressed, if not, slightly annoyed.

"I knew she would." Chris grins, nods in approval.

"Oh my gosh," Melissa gushes as she stares up at the Sun. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in all your life?" She smiles over at the others. It's been a long eight months since they've all seen their beloved Sun.

"Where are the others?" Isaac asks. He's mainly concerned over Scott, but he's got tact, at least.

"On their way, now." Stiles confirms. "Scott called. Said Kate was beat up pretty badly, but she's okay. I mean, she's healing, at least."

Allison looks deeply worried, as does Chris, understandably.

"What about Derek?" Lydia asks.

"Well," Isaac says, "If Kate can take out Compton, my money says she'll have Derek hog-tied and back here before we can even blink."

+

[Chris' Apartment - An Hour Later...]

Like most hunters, Chris was taught to compartmentalize, to keep his emotions in tact, hidden. But it's still always the same ache when he sees someone he cares for hurt or worse. He's still human, after all. Unlike most of the people in his life, now.

Chris takes Kate home, to his home. Away from the questions and the fuss, for some peace, for time to recuperate.

The apartment is silent, save for Chris' heavy footsteps as he flits around his sister. "Sit down for a sec'." He tells her as he quickly disappears down the hallway.

Kate ignores the pain of her aching limbs as she shuffles slowly forward, struggling with each little scuffle. Blood drips onto the floor, mainly from the cuts on her face, and her busted lips. She doesn't sit down, knows that she'll never get up again if she does. She simply stands in the middle of the living room, beaten, bloody, bruised, in pain and utterly exhausted.

Chris returns with a few supplies, decides not to press her in sitting down before she collapses. He stands to her left, where a particularly large bruise lays across her neck, right up to her jaw.

Kate grits her teeth, hisses silently when he gently places the ice pack against her throbbing, heated flesh. Though, she doesn't pull away, in fact, it feels a tiny bit better.

Chris slowly pulls away, turns towards the kitchen as he says, "I'll get you some bandages."

"No trauma." Kate pipes up, stops him from going any further. "I'm good."

Chris scoffs, shoots her an incredulous look. "Kate, you were almost killed."

Kate sighs quietly, doesn't reply to that, only manages to mumble out, "I could use a shower, though." She's never really been a bath girl. In fact, she's never even really been a girly girl. Not that she cares.

"Yeah," Chris nods, shoots her a soft, concerned look. "Yeah, of course. You know where the bathroom is."

Kate simply nods when he gestures down the hallway he'd just come from.

Chris watches her for a moment as she slowly begins to shuffle towards it. "Kate," His chest tightens as he asks, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Kate bites back a scoff as she pauses to glance over her shoulder at him. "Just a little sticky." She whispers, motioning to the blood covering half her face.

Chris merely nods in response, then, watches her in deep concern as she carries on down the hallway.

+

Kate closes the bathroom door behind her. All of her movements are slow and careful as she tries not to cause herself any more pain or discomfort. She let's her jacket slide off of her shoulders and onto the tiles.

Kate catches her reflection in the mirror on top of the sink, sees how beaten and bloody her face really is. She ignores the swirling emotions she feels when, mostly anger and disappointment, in herself. She huffs, glances away and then, kicks off her boots.

Kate slips off her tank top next, then her bra, leaves her clothes all in a pile on the floor with her boots and her jacket. She tries to ignore all the bloody gashes and dark bruises littering her torso as she then, pulls off her jeans and her panties.

Kate stands painfully on her tiptoes as she pads carefully over to the shower and slides the glass door open. She steps into the shower, slides the door shut quietly behind her and turns to fiddle with the taps until the water finally grows hot enough. She stands straight, right under the shower nozzle and just let's the water pour down on top of her head. She sighs tiredly as she tilts her head back a little, letting the water wash her face, and cascade down the rest of her body.

The tiny jets of steaming hot water seem more soothing than scalding to the blonde as Kate slowly turns her head from side to side, letting the water continue to pour all over her. Blood is streaking down her nude form, all over her skin, down her legs and gushes into the water pooling at her feet. Weakly, she reaches up, pushes her long blonde locks out of the way, so the water washes her bloody throat, as well.

In her utter exhaustion, Kate simply stands in the shower, letting it stream all over her. For a few minutes, her expression is completely calm, but there's suddenly a swarming build up of emotions in her chest. And suddenly, she lashes out, punches the wall in front of her, knocking a dent in the white tiles.

Kate stares at the cracked tile for a few more seconds, then, lashes out again. She hits the same spot, again, and again, growing more and more rapid and ferocious with every blow. Still pounding the tiles, some pieces flying off in the damage, she let's out a loud and angry (and very human) scream.

After that, Kate seizes all movements. Her hands move back to her sides, her body calm, but her breathing ragged and her expression frustrated. She takes a few moments to right her breathing and calm herself down and then, simply continues with her shower as if it never even happened.


	6. Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, a little hide and seek, huh? Okay, fine by me. I'll play."

[Vampyr, Blood Bar - The Next Day...]

Derek arches a brow at the waitress when she places a Bloody Mary on the table in front of him.

The waitress - a vampire - smirks as she says, "Compliments of the lady." She gestures to the woman sitting over at the bar, dressed in a skimpy red dress before walking off.

Derek glances over at the blonde, who smiles seductively and gives him a wave before scoffing and turning back to his table. "Yeah, right. As if."

The trio of vampires laugh, clearly amused.

"Here, have at it." Derek slides the drink along the table.

"Sweet!" Jason - the youngest undead - chimes gleefully as he grabs the glass and downs its contents in one, big gulp.

"Anyway," Derek carries on talking, as if he hadn't been rudely interrupted by some skank who's probably after a quickie. He's still got class, even if he's evil now. "I couldn't believe how easy it was to lure an little ol' Kate Argent away from McCall's nest."

Charles, the eldest vampire scoffs loudly, a wide smirk slapped across his pale face. "Well, I wish I could have been there to see her face when she saw Compton. Even if he was total prick."

Derek smirks. He had a feeling the other vampires hated Compton secretly. And he really didn't blame them. "Obviously the guy wasn't gonna win any personality contests, sure," His smirk widens into a sadistic grin. "But he DID slap her around real nice for me."

"Like a little bunny?" James cuts in as he takes a sip of his human blood.

"Like a bloody, whimpering, little bunny, yeah." Derek nods, his eyes sparkling mischievously, earning a laugh from all three vampires. "Once she was tenderised, I finally did you boys a favour and shafted the old bastard. And he never even saw it coming."

"Yeah, nice job, dog-boy, what with bringing the Sun back and everything."

Derek hears a loud scoff from the behind him, turns in his seat to see another vampire sitting at the bar, glaring right at him. Slowly, Derek rises to his feet, keeps calm and collected as he slowly walks over to the vampire. And wolf can't help smirking in satisfaction when the little, vampire's expression drops into one of fear.

"Oh, uh, hey, D-Derek, uh, Mr. Hale, sir..." The vampire gives a nervous, little laugh. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Derek sighs dramatically as he places a hand casually on the vampire's shoulder. "Maybe after."

The vampire looks confused, then, timidly asks, "...After what?"

Derek smiles pleasantly as he replies almost sweetly with, "After I rip out your windpipe, so it stops making that annoying talky sound."

"Wait!" The vampire exclaims, eyes wide with fear. "I-I have a condition! Tourettes! You've heard of it, right!?"

"Yeah. It causes uncontrollable impulses." Derek nods, reaches out quickly and grabs the vampire by the neck. "Like ripping throats out."

Suddenly, the werewolf hears a loud and rather imposing deep and distorted male voice echoing all around him, almost ringing in his ears and racking his brains. "Hello, Derek. I think it's time we finally have a little chat."

Derek winces at the loudness, then, glares as he shoves the vampire away from him, and swirls around. "Where are you!?" He snarls, eyes darting wildly around the entire bar as most of the vampires in there look at him like he's crazy. Not that he gives a shit. They're a bunch of undead murderers who can all burn in Hell as far as he's concerned.

The voice chuckles before it replies, "I'm where it's all warm and soft..."

Derek finally realises that the voice is in his own head, that someone else is trying to mind-fuck him right now. And that really doesn't sit well with him. He scoffs, then replies, "Oh, a little hide and seek, huh? Okay, fine by me. I'll play."

"Playtime's over." The voice sounds like it's chastising him. "You've been a very BAD boy. Killed my favourite pet, and all."

Derek smirks. "Well, I thought that MIGHT get your attention." He glances around, realises that everyone is still staring. He simply rolls his eyes at them all before stalking out of the bar and into broad daylight.

As the wolf continues down the street, the voice speaks up again. "Initiative. Hm, I think I like that." It chuckles again when the wolf rounds the next building and walks down a quiet alleyway. "But you needn't have bothered, sweets. I've had my eyes on you for a long time, now."

"So, you like to watch, huh?" Derek rolls his eyes, but he can't help smirking. He can understand that. Sometimes he likes to just sit back and watch things play out, too. It's fun.

"One of the many things you and I have in common."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Derek's smirk widens. "I'm more of a hands-on kinda guy. Well, mostly anyway." When the voice doesn't reply this time, the wolf huffs and speaks up again. "Okay, come on, level with me here. Have you got a pair of steel balls, or is the wind you're blowing up right now my tailpipe all you can muster?" He scoffs in amusement when the voice still doesn't answer. "Hey, HERE'S a fun idea; now that I've killed your little pet vamp, how about a little fate-to-face, huh? Assuming that you've actually got one, that is."

The voice chuckles lightly, then, finally speaks up, "Don't worry, my dear boy. We'll meet soon enough. When you are ready."

"And exactly, what the fuck does that even mean?" Derek huffs, a little frustrated. Like he said, he hates being toyed with. "Huh? Why are you stalling? I mean, you're the one who whipped up the rain of fire, blotted out the Sun, shattered the ground with earthquakes and all to manoeuvre Scotty and Brady Bunch into practically handing me over to your little pet vamp on a silver plate just so he can release the inner me. I don't understand why I'm worth the trouble, but I'll play along for now. So, don't you wanna finally kick the tires here?"

"So beautifully vain you are, my dear boy." The voice airs, sounds almost dreamy, and somewhat envious. "But the chaos doesn't always revolve around YOU. Destruction sometimes is its own reason and reward."

"Well, hey, man, you're preaching to the guy who actually ate the choir on his fifteenth birthday. Given that it was a total accident. But still." Derek smirks when he suddenly realises - "Wait a second... It wasn't just you, was it? You just pulled the strings to make them think it was their idea. All so they'd bring Kate back."

The voice chuckles again, this time, sounds impressed when it says, "I couldn't risk them ruining the party. I have wonderful plans for both my little kitten and my little puppy."

"Uh, yeah," Derek goes on, his voice calm. "But the thing is, as far as plans go anyway, I make my own. So, y'know, thanks for stopping by in my mind, and all. And see ya around." He says before turning around and walking back towards the entrance of the alleyway.

Suddenly, the voice switches drastically, bellowing angrily, "YOU WOULD DARE DEFY ME, BOY!?"

"Defy WHO? A big, scary voice in my head?" Derek gasps dramatically, clearly taunting. "Whoa! Hey, I got one of those, too. You wanna hear it?" He cups both hands over his mouth, states loudly and clearly that - "You. Can. Kiss. My. Werewolf. Ass!"

+

[Chris' Apartment - The Next Day...]

Kate pulls on her leather jacket, tries to ignores her brother's concerned expression when she turns to face him in the living room. "All healed. Well," She shrugs. "Mostly."

Chris simply continues to stare at his baby sister, doesn't really know what to say to her. It's so weird, and frustrating. He used to be able to talk to her about anything and everything.

"Right..." Kate mumbles out sheepishly. "Sorry about your shower."

"I don't give a shit about the shower. Although, I'm fairly certain my security deposit is at a complete loss, now. But for God's sake, Kate. You were hurt. Bad. And it's okay to admit that." Chris huffs, looks rather frustrated now. "I just need to know that your not gonna go off and get yourself killed. That your head's in the game. All the way."

Kate merely nods before grabbing her duffel bag off of the couch. "All the way, boss." She repeats before moving towards the front door.

+

[Melissa's House...]

"Hmm," Stiles frowns as he searches through the piles of books and papers on the floor in front of him. "If I were a Runic transcription guide, I would be..." He grunts in annoyance when he finds it. "Placed in the wrong shitting pile. Ugh. I need another coffee."

"Talking to yourself again, Stiles? Yeah, there's a lot of that going around lately."

"Derek..." Stiles' eyes widen when he looks up to see a certain sour wolf standing in front of him. "Y-you can't hurt me. I cast a no-violence spell."

"Ah, yes, the sanctuary spell." Derek nods, wearing a small smirk. "But I kinda already figured you pesky P.I.'s would be humming that old tune." His smirk widens as he pulls out a small, coin-shaped talisman from his pocket. "So I picked up a little something that let's be as violent as I wanna be."

Stiles opens his mouth to speak, then purses his lips as he changes his mind. Instead he narrows his eyes as he mutters out, "I don't believe you."

Derek was counting on how smart Stiles is, how smart he knows the kid is. And while Derek knows Stiles' words are actually true, he also knows that Stiles isn't sure. Which is good enough for him. He stalks forward, grabs the spark by the arm and shoves him onto the couch. He doesn't intend to harm him, which is the little loophole the wolf figured out - if there is no true intention to harm, the spell will not react to him.

As predicted, Stiles' eyes widen, his heart beating out of his chest in a panic.

"Do you believe me, NOW?" Derek's smirk widens all the more as he arches a brow.

"What'd you want!?" Stiles finally snaps, turns to anger instead of panic or fear. Even though he is afraid and he is trying not to panic right now.

"Awe, maybe I just miss you, Genim." Derek says with a pouty (clearly mocking) expression.

Stiles simply glares back up at the wolf for daring to use his name - especially just to piss him off. Well, mission accomplished there.

"Well," Derek sighs casually. "I mean, since you brought it up anyway - let's talk about this mysterious new master of evil." He motions down to the books and papers littering the floor and ask, "So, what've you got?"

Stiles sighs, shakes his head as he replies, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Derek grits his teeth, mostly because he knows the spark is telling the truth. "Oh, come on, now, Stiles," He shoots the younger male a disapproving, slightly disappointed look. "All of this raw material here," He motions to the books again. "And a brainiac like you or Lydia. One of you must at least have a theory by now."

"Even if I did, YOU would be the LAST person I share it with." Stiles scoffs loudly, glares defiantly up at him.

"Well, then," Derek nods, look calm. "I'll just have to figure it out all by myself, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so, sourass." Stiles mutters begrudgingly as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Hmm, let's see," Derek grins as he waltzes right over to the piles of books and papers. "I'll take these," He grabs a few of each, tucking them neatly under his arm. "And this." He adds, smirking over at the spark. "Thanks for nothing, kiddo." Because "kiddo" is something only Stiles' father calls him, and because he knows it'll antagonise the spark.

And it does. Stiles rises instantly from the couch, angrily glares at the wolf now. "You're gonna feel like shit, you know that? You're gonna be really sorry in the end, Derek." He chuckles bitterly as the wolf arches an amused brow at him. "You're WAY outta your league here. What you're up again? What we're all up again? It'll make you it's little bitch, just like it did with Compton already and who the fuck even knows who or what the fuck else?"

Derek slowly walks back over to the spark, until he's standing right in front of him, towering over him.

The wolf doesn't say anything, but Stiles winces slightly, sensing something bad is about to happen to him. However, it seems that with a little luck, the spark glances down at the talisman still in the wolf's hand, and notices - "Made in China?"

Derek smirks when the spark glares up at him in utter outrage.

Stiles grabs the first thing he sees, then, smashing the lamp instantly over the wolf's head before making a dash for it.


	7. Do the Math

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek chuckles at her expression, seems to read her clearly as he says, "That's it, baby. Do the math."

The front door opens just before Stiles reaches it, and Melissa's eyes widen when she realises that her son's best friend is holding a tranquilliser rifle.

"What's going on?" Allison asks, Lydia's eyes widening just in time to see Derek stalking angrily down the hallway.

"Oh, holy shit!!" Stiles instantly aims the gun at the Beta, but Derek yanks it out of his grasp and tosses it aside.

Derek sends one swift punch to the spark's face, then, sends him down onto the floor, knocked out cold.

Melissa immediately rushes over to him, tries to haul him away from the chaos.

Allison instantly grabs the small throwing blades from her boots, throws a couple, only to have the wolf hold up one of the books he'd stolen as a shield.

Derek chuckles, shoves both the brunette and the redhead side and bolts towards the front door.

Allison throws another couple of blades, quickly then reaching for more in her jacket pocket.

Again, Derek swirls around just in time, holds up the book to protect him. "Hmm, nice try, baby hunter." He shoots her an impressed, though, still smug smirk. "You think about how close you came to stopping me here tonight, when I'm slaughtering all of your friends and family tomorrow."

+

[Meanwhile...]

Just outside of Scott's mother's house, Chris pulls up on the opposite side of the road. He and Kate hop out, taking their time as they walk over.

"We track," Kate states her plan. She likes it, it's simple. "We find him, we -"

"Get your asses kicked?"

Both hunters freeze, save for their eyes simultaneously glancing upwards to see a familiar werewolf standing just a few feet in front of them.

Derek smirks, his gaze mainly focussed on the pretty blonde. "Just a wild guess, of course."

Kate instantly pulls out her small switch blade (coated with kanima venom, so if she can just get close enough) and charges towards the werewolf. She still hasn't healed fully, but she doesn't care as she swipes the blade out to him.

Derek easily dodges, laughing as he kicks her in the back of the legs, sending her to her knees.

Kate growls in annoyance, scrambles back up to her feet and swipes the blade out to him again and again.

And again, Derek dodges each attack. With the books and papers still under his arm, he easily over-powers her single-handedly.

Chris rushes over then, with his own tranquilliser handgun aimed and ready.

Derek shoves Kate out of his way as Chris comes over, and tries to shoot at him. Before the hunter can do just that, the wolf dart's forward and kicks the gun away, causing it to go flying across the lawn. In one swift move then, he grabs Chris by the throat and hauls his back against his chest, using him as a human shield. And of course, for an advantage over the blonde.

Now unarmed and in danger, Chris nods his head at Kate when she glances warily at the clawed hand around her big brother's neck.

"Shitty spell, huh?" Derek chuckles. "You think it'd at least reach the front yard."

"Let him go." Kate snarls out. "This is just between us."

"It's never just been between us, though, Kate, has it?" Derek arches a brow, shoots her a pointed look. "First your psychotic father and now, your idiot brother." He smirks at Chris, who's struggles against the wolf are completely fruitless. "Chris will always be in the middle."

Kate glances between the two males, weight up her options.

Derek chuckles at her expression, seems to read her clearly as he says, "That's it, baby. Do the math." He shoots her a taunting grin. "Can you get to me before I snap his miserable, scrawny, little neck?" He arches a brow, clearly challenging her. "Are you really that fast? Chris here is just DYING to find out. Aren't you, Chrissy?"

Chris ignores the werewolf's teasing, only looks at his baby sister, gives her a "go ahead" nod as he says, "Do it."

"Yeah, that's it, do it." Derek encourages her gleefully. "Take your shot, and save the world." He chuckles again when she doesn't move, only scowls. "Come on, Kate. What're you waiting for? It's all about choices. The ones we make, and the ones we don't. Oh," He smirks sinisterly. "And the consequences, of course. Those are ALWAYS fun."

Kate grits her teeth, balls her fists at her sides as the wolf tightens his grasp around her brother's throat, causing him to choke loudly.

"Come on, Kate. It's not like you haven't taken an innocent life before. So, what's one more body to us, huh?" Derek's smirk widens. "Come on, baby, where's my girl?"

"Kate!"

Kate glances behind the two to see Allison and Lydia running out of the house.

Allison darts forward, and when she's close enough, she throws Stiles' rifle over to her aunt.

Kate catches it with ease, immediately aiming it at the werewolf's head.

Lydia stays behind Allison, the youngest hunter having her cross-bow raised towards Derek.

Derek knows he can't dodge all of their weapons. Instead of fighting, then, he simply shoves Chris forward, and darts off across the grass.

Chris lands on Kate, Kate instantly hauling herself up and firing a couple of shoots after the wolf. She growls in annoyance, finally lowering the gun as she watches him disappear across the street.

+

[An Hour Later...]

Back inside the house, Stiles is finally awake and fully up to date about the events that took place after Derek knocked him unconscious. He's in the kitchen with Melissa, who's still fussing over his bruised eye and busted lip, while Allison and Lydia are in the living room with Kate, Chris and Scott.

"Okay, well, all I'm saying is that if he tries dancing his way in here again and pulling a Dark Shadows again, he's gonna get a dart up his evil ass." Scott states, wearing an annoyed scowl.

"Yeah, well, his ass moves pretty quickly." Allison says, looks even more annoyed than he boyfriend. "Stiles said he took all of the books and papers we had on this new big evil. Which, was virtually nothing, really, but still."

"It's not Stiles' fault." Scott says, then sees her expression and pointedly adds, "Or your's."

Allison sends him a small smile, one that doesn't reach her eyes, because she clearly doesn't really believe him. "I bet they don't think so." She says, motioning towards her father and her aunt, talking quietly to one another on the other side of the room.

Scott scoffs. "Like they're any help anyway."

Allison smiles gratefully, but she knows they both know that's not true. They need Kate. And her father. As much as they need Scott and Stiles and anybody else willing.

They need all the help they can get at this point, she knows this. Even if they've gotten through worse before. But maybe this is worse. And until they figure out who this mysterious evil being pulling everybody's strings really is, they won't know for sure.


	8. Changing the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Changing the game." Chris states simply, wears a small smirk.

[Scott's and Allison's Apartment - Three Hours Later...]

After running a little errand, Chris walks the front door. When he gets to the living room, where the others are gathered, he cocks his shotgun to gain everybody's attention.

And it works like a charm.

"What're you doing with that?" Kate asks, brow arched.

"Changing the game." Chris states simply, wears a small smirk.

Kate scowls, says pointedly, "I thought we weren't going for the kill."

"We're not." Chris says. "But if we get another chance, I wanna slow Derek down long enough to tranq him."

Allison and Lydia glance at one another, the redhead piping up with, "Uh, by blowing his legs off?"

"You want some help with that?" Stiles scoffs out.

Chris smirks, but shakes his head. "No. We need someone we all trust enough to watch over Charlie. And we need someone here that can actually hurt Derek."

"Oh, I'm all over THAT." Scott volunteers, wearing a cheesy grin as he raises his hand.

"Okay, good." Chris nods approvingly, then, turns his attention to Allison and Lydia. "I want you both to stay here, too."

Allison huffs her annoyance, but otherwise nods. She has faith in her aunt. And her father. He's the one who taught her everything she knows, after all.

"Yeah, I have NO problem with that." Lydia says, earning an amused chuckle from her best friend.

"Be careful, all of you. Even you, Scott." Chris warns. "Next time Derek shows up, he might be packing the real talisman."

+

[5 Minutes Later...]

"We'll start with a perimeter sweep." Kate says as they out of Stiles' apartment building. "I'll take point. Stay frosty." She tells her brother. "If he's still in the area -"

"You'll what? Let him escape again?" Chris cuts in, arches a brow. He's not angry. He predicted as much, in fact. He knows she still feels for the werewolf. 'God, what is it with the women in this family wanting to date werewolves!?'

Kate let's out a huff as she rolls her eyes. "Is this seriously coming from the hostage guy?" She counters as she stops and turns to face him.

"The point is, Derek was right, Kate." Chris ignores her quip as he adds, "You should've just gone for him, while you had the chance. Now, you may never get that chance again."

Kate stares incredulously at him as she points out very simply, "He would've killed you without a second thought."

"And how many will he have the chance to kill, now, because you let him make that difference? Because you let him get to you? And all because you're still in love with him?"

Kate glares at him, but says nothing. So it's true. So what? It doesn't matter either way. Not anymore, at least.

Chris sighs tiredly, doesn't want to seem angry with her. He just wants her to understand. "Without his humanity, Derek is just an animal. And the only way to defeat him is to be just as vicious as he is."

Kate's expression hardens at his words, and finally she says, "I don't care what you or anybody else thinks, because I know that I'm NOT just a vicious animal. And neither is Derek. So, thanks for your concern and your words of wisdom, but we're doing this MY way."

+

[Later That Night...]

Derek doesn't care who gets in his way. He's simply determined to find out all about Compton's "master".

The wolf stalks around the magic shop, has the front door locked. Not that the shopkeeper - who's lying on the ground simply terrified - could escape even if he wanted to.

"Well, these aren't helping at all." Derek huffs, tosses a few of the papers carelessly aside as he paces up and down the shop floor. "Half of this shit is written in archaic proto-demon-cuneiform," He throws the book in his hand as he saunters slowly closer to the whimpering shopkeeper. "And I don't wanna be rude here, but I think the other half was just a bunch of doodling."

The shopkeeper gasps when the wolf grabs him by the throat and hauls him up, his feet barely touching the floor.

"Now," Derek tightens his grip, making the shopkeeper wheeze loudly. "Please don't make me puncture your other kidney, Reggie-boy."

The shopkeeper gasps loudly, yells out in pain when the wolf grabs the small knife still sticking out of his left side, and gives it a harsh, sickening twist.

"All I want," Derek says all too casually. "Is a little intel on this new master of evil. I mean, this IS an occult and magic shop, right?" He arches a brow, smirks lightly. "And your job is to help helpless folk, like me."

"I-I don't know wh-what you're talking about!" The shopkeeper finally manages to choke out.

"Sure you do." Derek chirps, letting go of the knife, but leaving it in the man's flesh - and organ. "He's got a penchant for rains of fire," He punches the man in the face, breaking his nose and making it gush blood. "Blocking out the Sun," He punches the man again, busting his bottom lip wide open, and making it bleed, too. "Oh, and getting," He punches him again, blacks his eye. "Inside," He punches him again, bruising his cheek. "Your," He punches him one final time, cracking his nose all the more. "Head -"

"DEREK HALE!"

Derek let's the man drop back the ground in a bloody mess as he stumbles back while trying fruitlessly to cover his sensitive ears. "Uh, hello!? Volume, asshole!"

The voice sounds a lot angrier this time around. "I am NOT well pleased."

"Uh-huh. Well, I am NOT well deaf." Derek glares up at the ceiling, as if glaring right at the owner of the voice - whoever the fuck he is.

"Do you think me blind, little puppy?" The voice asks bitterly. "That I don't see every single move of yours before you even decide to make them?" Then it threateningly adds, "Dare to seek me out once more, and your insolence WILL be punished by tenfold."

"Oh, yeah? What're you gonna do? Give me a migraine? Ohh! Scary!" Derek scoffs loudly, clearly not afraid, not even impressed. "Y'know, you ethereal types with your big, swinging omniscience. When push comes to shove, though, you gotta send some idiotic old bloodsucker to do your dirty work for you." He scoffs again, louder. "Ohh! That's REAL spooky!"

The shopkeeper finally seizes his opportunity, especially when the walls of the shop start to shake violently. He instantly scrambles to his feet, thankful for his back-up key.

"Oh, that's just great!" Derek glares after the man as he goes running out of the shop. "You made me lose my shopkeeper."

"This isn't the way, my sweet boy." The voice seems to have calmed down considerably, the walls no longer shaking. "We should be friends, you and I."

"Nope." Derek chimes all too pleasantly. "And lemme tell you why. One, because, y'know, I'm evil, now, which, okay, yeah, thanks to you for that, but - the friends thing? - that's outta the question. And two, if I DID have any friends, they sure as shit wouldn't be living inside of my head."

"Like you, the true wolf are forced to live inside the human Derek's head?" The voice asks smugly, chuckles quietly, clearly taunting. "Because you're the real voice inside Derek's head, aren't you? Just beneath the surface, but not quiet touching. Buried under all of that cheesy goodness, and want to do good. Fully conscious, but trapped. Unable to more, or to speak. Powerless to act on your own desires and terms. SO thirsty, so helpless... It must be dire agony."

"Y'know what? I'm getting really bored with this stupid game." Derek huffs, tries to shake off the way his skin suddenly seems to tingle with want. "So, fuck you!" He growls out finally before storming towards the shop door.

"Then, how about a round of show-and-tell?" The voice goes on when the wolf stops dead in his tracks. "I wonder who has your soul?" It chuckles, then adds, "Oh, right, yeah... I do."

"More smoke and mirrors?" Derek snarls out impatiently.

"Not this time. I assure you, my sweet boy, this very moment, I hold your very soul in my very corporeal hands. And I WILL restore it without hesitation if you DON'T behave yourself."

Derek glares up at the ceiling once again.

The voice continues, clearly threatening again. "I'll put you back in your box, Derek. I will bury you SO far inside the human's head, you'll NEVER be able to claw your way out again."

Derek looks rather pained just by the thought of that, and with gritted teeth, he finally submits. "Okay, fine... What'd you want me to do... Master?"


	9. You're a Daddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I do." Lydia laces her fingers with his, brings his arms around her waist and his hands to rest on the small bump of her belly. "You're a daddy."

[Vampyr, Blood Bar - The Next Night...]

Kate rolls her eyes as the vampire let's out a rather girly cry, and punches him in the face one more time.

"Hey! Come on! I bruise easy!" The vampire whines, pouting back at the blonde.

"Yeah?" Kate arches a humouring brow, raises her fist slowly as she says, "I wonder what colour you'll be when I'm done with you." And then punches him in the face once again.

"Ow! Son of a -"

Kate cuts him off by smashing his head into the bar.

Chris instantly swirls around a raises his shotgun towards the vampire who rises from his seat to intervene. "Let's not, shall we?"

The vampire holds up his hands in surrender before slowly sitting back down.

"I don't remember anything!" The vampire in the blonde's grasp splutters. "I was fucking wasted anything. I thought she was eighteen! I swear!"

Kate narrows her eyes at him. "I get it, you're a hundred and ten year old vampire, and I am trying REAL hard here to respect my elders, but really," She shoots him a warning look. "Do not push your luck."

"Break his fucking head open!" One of the other vampires suddenly shouts out.

"Yeah!" Another laughs. "See if there's any candy inside!"

A few of the others around the vampire bar laugh at that.

Chris can't help smirking, too. Especially when he sees his sister bite back one of her own.

"Hey!" The vampire in her grasp glares at the last vampire to shout out. "What'd I look like? A fucking pinata!?"

"Ohh!" Kate smirks wickedly. "Let's find out." She says rather sweetly before bashing his head against the bar once more.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Okay! Okay!" The vampire holds up his hands in surrender, but mainly to protect his face from the bar. "What'd you wanna know?" He finally huffs out.

"Where is Derek Hale?" Chris asks, his voice loud and clear enough for all to hear. Vampire or not. He doesn't care. He wants them all to know that he and Kate and the McCall pack mean business.

"Uh, who?" The vampire arches a brow, looks confused.

Kate instantly smashes his head against the bar once again.

"Ow!" The vampire whines.

"My brother and I have been breathing in stale beer and blood for almost the entire night in piss holes like this," Kate motions to their surroundings.

"Yes," Chris nods, arches a brow at the vampire. "And guess where it led us?"

"Look, I'm telling you, I don't know anything. I swear, I don't." The vampire insists. He hates to admit it, but he's a lot more afraid of the werewolf than two idiotic hunters. "On my mother's grave..." He notices a couple of vampires silently sneaking up on the hunters and smirks as he adds, "And even if I DID know anything, I'd never tell a couple of fleshbag hunters that are about to be eaten alive."

Without even looking, Chris aims the shotgun and shoots once behind him, nailing the would-be vampire attacker right in the chest.

The other vampire freezes, his eyes widening as he watches the other fly across the room.

"Feel like sharing yet?" Kate arches a brow at the vampire in front of her, smirking lightly when he gulps loudly.

"Oh, THAT Derek Hale!" The vampire chimes, wearing an all too pleasant smile. "Yeah, oh, yeah, sure, he's in here all the time these days. Mostly running his mouth when he is. "Look at me! I'm so evil!" Pff! Whatever, man! So, yeah. Totally. He's a real jackass. I never even liked him. I'm completely on your side here."

Chris merely rolls his eyes as he asks, "Where is he?"

"I have no clue. I swear." The vampire holds up his hands, tries to look sincere as possible. He really doesn't know where the stupid dog is and he doesn't care. He just doesn't want to get dusted tonight. Or any night, for that matter.

"What DO you know?" Kate asks, narrowing her eyes in irritation as she grips his throat tight again.

"Uh - oh!" The vampire grins proudly as he says, "He was in here last night, giving us the blah, blah, blah, again. And then, he started acting kinda weird."

"What'd you mean? How was he acting weird?" Chris asks, looks slightly sceptical.

"Well, I mean, it seemed like he was talking to himself, like a total freak before he slipped out of the back." The vampire explains.

"Where?" Kate asks, glancing behind her.

"Over there." The vampire points to the curtains drawn across a doorway around the back of the bar.

+

[Lydia's Apartment - Meanwhile...]

Stiles doesn't know how it happened. Even more than that, he doesn't know how he's managed to keep it all a secret. But he has. And oddly, he doesn't feel guilty, like he knows he probably should. In fact, he feels happy. Happier than he's felt in a long time, now.

Stiles makes his way out of the on-suit bathroom and into the redhead's bedroom. He smiles when he sees her sitting on the bed, waiting just for him.

"It's okay, y'know?" Lydia smiles back up at him, because she can see right through him. Always could, even before all of this. "That you tried to take Derek on. He was going to kill you."

Stiles nods, but let's out a pained sigh. "I just wish I could've done more. I'm supposed to protect you. Especially now."

Lydia's smile widens as she pats the spot beside her.

Stiles sits behind her, let's her rest her back against his chest. "I don't even know what a spark really is, what I really am."

"I do." Lydia laces her fingers with his, brings his arms around her waist and his hands to rest on the small bump of her belly. "You're a daddy."

Stiles smiles into her hair, places a few soft kisses along the side of her neck.

"You need to face the fact that you're special, Stiles. We're special." Lydia's smile widens into a secretly sinister grin as she adds, "Just like our baby's going to be."

+

Chris follows Kate out of the back exit of the vampire bar. They walk a few steps before reaching an alleyway, where Kate instantly rushes over to the young woman slumped against the brick wall.

"Hey!" Kate hisses, lightly slapping the woman's face. "Hey, I'm gonna get you outta here."

Chris slowly walks over, sees the hypodermic syringe lying a few feet away on the concrete. "Kate,"

Kate ignores him. "Can you walk?" She also tries to ignore the many track marks along the insides of her arms.

"No," The woman giggles loudly. "But I can fly!"

"Shit." Kate stares at her with deep concern. "What'd they do to her?"

"She did it to herself." Chris states. "People like this shoot up all sorts and feed vampires, use them like a filter, I guess." He explains calmly, having seen it before. But she doesn't need to know that. "I've read about the effects. They can be quite intoxicating, for both of them."

"Hey, you're really pretty." The woman smiles up at the blonde. "Wanna make out?"

Kate huffs, then grabs the girl loosely by the throat and pushes her roughly back against the wall. "There was a werewolf around here, last night and a few nights ago. Tall, dark, really good-looking?" When the woman's eyes begin to drift, Kate growls as shoves her. "Listen!"

"Okay! God! What's your issue!?" The woman snaps.

"Did you see him or not!?" Kate snaps back.

"Let go!" The woman whimpers slightly.

Kate let's out another annoyed growl and without thinking twice, punches the girl in the face. It's not a hard hit, but it's enough to still hurt. "Did you see him!?"

"No!!" The woman begins to cry now, looks frantic and rather scared. "Please, stop! You're hurting me!"

Kate freezes at those words, her mind flashing back to all the times she said them to her father. "I'm - I'm sorry." She steps back, letting the woman go altogether. "She doesn't know anything." She says, turning back to face her brother. "Let's go."

Chris waits for her to walk passed him before storming over to the woman, slumped back down against the wall.

Kate halts, turns to watch him. "Chris -"

"Maybe she does." Chris says before taking out a small pocket knife and stabbing the woman in the left shoulder. And he knows just where to put the blade, without killing her or even letting her bleed out too much.

"Please! Stop! Please!" The woman let's out a few shrill screams, squirms and struggles in the hunter's grasp.

"Chris!" Kate snaps, stalking over to him. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Chris snaps, shoots her a brief glare over his shoulder.

Kate grits her teeth, but keeps still for now. Though, she watches the knife like a fucking hawk.

"The track on your arms," Chris says, glaring at the woman. "You've been here, what? Two or three days straight, right?" He twists the knife and demands a firm, "Answer me!"

"Yes! God! Okay! Yes! F-four days! Four! Just please, stop!"

"Then, you must have seen the werewolf we're looking for, right?" Chris asks, arching an expectant brow.

"Y-yes... Derek. I saw him." The woman nods, sniffs loudly. "But he didn't stay too long."

"The vampires said he was talking to himself." Chris says. "What was he saying?"

"I don't know." The woman whines when he glares at her. "It was like he was talking to someone else. It was all rain of fire and pulling strings and a soul. That's all I heard. I promise. Please, just stop. It hurts..."

Chris huffs as he finally pulls the knife out and wipes it clean before putting it back in his pocket.

When he stands up, Kate rushes to the woman's side to check the damage. "Have you completely lost your fucking mind!?" She snaps, glaring up at him. And she thought she was the only one who had changed. It seems big brother had, too. Though, she's not sure she likes the change.

"I avoided the main arteries." Chris says calmly. "She'll live." He scoffs. "If that's what you even call this."

Kate only continues to glare as she rips off the end of the woman's skirt and ties it securely around her shoulder.

"Anyway," Chris goes on. "Whatever was controlling Compton, it's finally made contact with Derek."

+

[Ten Minutes Later...]

Kate follows Chris back to his care, still glaring at her brother. "So, what? Torturing humans is part of your new makeover?"

Chris stops with a tired sigh, turns to face her. "I did what I had to, because you couldn't." He says softly, letting her know he isn't angry.

"I hit her, didn't I!?" Kate snaps.

Chris scoffs loudly, laughs bitterly. "And what? You think that's something new to her?"

"You crossed the fucking line back there, Chris." Kate says, her voice low and quivering with anger.

"Oh, so you have a problem with torture, now?" Chris laughs at her, only earning another glare. "Funny. I seem to recall a time when you enjoyed it a little too much."

Kate grits her teeth at that, but manages to grumble out, "Yeah, well, that's not really who I am. Not anymore anyway. You know that."

"I do." Chris nods, though, he's clearly humouring her as he motions to his shotgun and adds, "Still, nice to bring this along, just in case."

Kate doesn't know whether to glare or not this time. Or if she should just die in horror. The gun is for her, not Derek. Because her brother doesn't trust her. And she doesn't blame him.

"I remember what you did to me, Kate." Chris says, glaring at her. "The broken glass, the shallow cuts, just so I would remain conscious."

"So, what? You think I'd hurt you again? Is that is?" Kate asks, arches a brow. Because only her big brother can revert her back to a little brat.

Chris chuckles. "Is this the part where you tell me you've turned over a new leaf? Found God? Inner peace and all that shit? We both know that isn't true. You haven't changed. You never can."

"Chris," Kate warns him in a low tone when he begins to get in her personal space.

"It's because you're sick, Kate."

Kate grits her teeth, holds onto her anger as he shoves a hand roughly into her chest. She backs up, tries to walk away, but he does it again.

"You've always been sick."

Kate turns around, but he's in front of her again.

"It goes right down to your roots, rotting your soul." Chris goes on, openly taunting her now. "That's why your friends all turned on, that's why dad tried to kill you. No one trust you, Kate. You're a rabid cat, who should've been put down years ago!"

Kate finally snaps, her eyes burning blue as turns around, lands a hard and harsh punch to his face. She instantly grabs him by the throat in her anger and shoves him up against his car, denting the driver's door slightly. She raises her fist, ready to punch him again, but then, notices the smug smirk on his face.

"See? That wasn't so hard, now, was it?" Chris chuckles, even through his incredibly aching jaw.

Kate sends him a glare before slapping him up the side of the head. However, she finally let's his throat go and takes a step back to calm herself down.

"It's what you will need to beat him, Kate." Chris says, a pointed tone in his voice.

"No." Kate says defiantly.

"You have to be willing to take it all the way." Chris says, now a pleading tone in his voice.

"No." Kate glares at him once again. "I can't risk killing Derek. Not after everything he's done for me... No. There's gotta be another way. And I'm gonna find it."

And Chris can only sigh and hope that she's right as he watches her stalk around to the passenger's side of his car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I totally went there with Lydia...  
> Insert evil grin.


	10. Strike Three!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Damn! Strike three!" Derek smirks wickedly as he raises the shotgun at the hunter's head.

[The Next Night...]

"Hey." Scott greets his mate with a smile and a quick peck on the cheek.

Allison enters their apartment, looks slightly worried when she turns to face the wolf. "Do you know where my dad and Kate are? I haven't seen them all day, and I haven't been able to get a hold of them, either."

"Uh," Scott smiles sheepishly. "No..."

Allison narrows her eyes. "I knew you knew something!" She hisses.

"Allison -"

"What's going on, Scott?" Allison demands, her eyes narrowing even more.

"W -" Scott opens his mouth, but she cuts him off once more.

"And don't even think of lying to me."

Scott shuts his mouth, scowls deeply before nodding and letting out a sigh of defeat.

+

[Uptown - Meanwhile...]

Kate and Chris easily slip into the large, beautiful gardens of the rather lush, and extravagant house. Thankfully, it's up for sale, and completely vacant. The inside is bare, and under a little construction, but the entire interior is beautifully laid out.

The house, they found out by a call from Stiles and Isaac, belongs to a warlock. The same warlock Derek got the shoddy talisman from. Apparently. However, they both decide it's worth checking out.

They walk slowly, silently around in the darkness, Chris with his small torch, and shotgun at the ready, and Kate poised with Stiles' tranquilliser rifle.

"Even if Derek got the fake voodoo coin from this Cyrus guy, why would he stick around?" Kate asks, the one thing that doesn't add up here to her.

"He wouldn't." Chris says, then explains, "But the Cyrus that Deaton knows, might be this Cyrus. And he might be able to help us find where Derek's hiding." He scoffs lightly, smirks, then adds, "Willingly or not."

Both hunters freeze then, when a familiar laugh sounds close by.

"Look who it is, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum." Derek laughs as he slowly walks out of the shadows, stands only feet from them both. "A little birdie in my head told me you'd both be here." He grins. "This is gonna be fun..."

Kate instantly fires a few shots at the wolf, but he simply ducks with lightning-quick movements. He darts forward, kicks the rifle out of her hands, then kicks her hard in the stomach, sending her to the floor.

Derek grabs her by the neck, holds her in front of him. "Well," He smirks smugly at the other hunter. "What happened to just going for it?"

Chris doesn't care that he has to eat his own words. He can't fucking shot through his baby sister. Especially not at such close range with a fucking shotgun. 'Fucking damn it!'

Derek scoffs loudly. "Jeez, you're pathetic." He then, sends another sharp kick to the blonde's stomach, sends her flying into one of the thick columns, even denting and cracking the marble.

Chris cocks the gun, aims it at the werewolf's legs. "Move and I'll blow your fucking legs off." He smirks, then adds, "Think they'll grow back? Your little healing trick that good?"

"THAT'S more like it!" Derek grins, is delighted to see the enthusiasm. "Come on, then, Chrissy." He opens his arms in invitation, sends the hunter a cocky smirk. "Gimme your best shot..."

Chris narrows his eyes, then, instantly goes for the wolf's legs.

Derek dodges the shot easily, chuckles, and taunts, "You gotta do better than THAT, Chrissy! Come on!"

Chris shots again, tries to catch him out while he talks.

Derek chuckles again, knowing exactly what the hunter is trying to do. "Okay, I'll give you ONE more..."

As the wolf charges right up to him, Chris goes to shoot for the chest, but Derek simply grabs the shotgun and punches the hunter in the face.

"Damn! Strike three!" Derek smirks wickedly as he raises the shotgun at the hunter's head.

Kate groans as she finally reaches consciousness. And just in time to see her brother being thrown by the wolf, his head smacking one of the scaff-holding polls and knocking him clean out.

"Uh-oh! Look who's got a gun!" Derek sings tauntingly as he slowly turns around and aims the shotgun at the blonde.

He shoots, and somehow, Kate manages to scramble to her feet and dart behind the column, just in fucking time.

"Huh," Derek arches a brow as he glances down at the weapon in his hands, looks impressed. "I can really see why he likes this thing so much."

Kate still hasn't fully recovered from the vampire's beating. However, she makes a run for the staircase, but goes tumbling roughly down them when the wolf hits her in the back with the butt of the shotgun.

"Wow." Derek laughs gleefully to himself as he jumps down, and lands gracefully on his feet beside the blonde. "You really have gone soft now, haven't you?" He shakes his head, looks disappointed as he stares down at her. "Hey," He bends down to face her, smirks when she glares up at him. "Remember that time you tried to kill me and my entire family, because you felt all weepy over being such a bad girl for your Mad as a Hatter daddy?"

Kate's glare hardens, though, only to - compartmentalize. She can't let him get to her. Or she's more dead than she's probably going to be in the next minute or two.

"Do you STILL feel that way, Kate?" Derek asks as he slowly rises back to his feet and points the shotgun right in her face. "Do you STILL wanna die?"

"No..." Kate looks away, unable to help it before even thinking about it. She's ashamed, and she knows he already knows that.

"What? What's that you said?" Derek taunts, smirk slowly widening.

"No." Kate says a little sterner, a little louder.

"I can't hear you, Kate. And y'know, I've got pretty good hearing." Derek arches a brow.

"NO!" Kate finally yells, glaring angrily up at him once again. And it's only half a lie.

"Huh. Well, too bad," Derek chuckles. "Because you're gonna -" He cocks the shotgun again and again, until the hunteress glares up at him again when she realises that it's empty. He grins wolfishly, then adds, "But not like this..."

Kate growls angrily, snatches the shotgun out of his hands and tosses it as far away as fucking possible. She scrambles back up onto her feet, and proceeds to punch to him repeatedly in the face.

"Whoa! Looks like we got a live one!" Derek cheers as he grabs her next punch and returns with a swift, hard punch to her face. "For now, anyway..."

Kate stumbles back a few paces when he punches her in the stomach, groans quietly before shaking the pain off.

"Awh, you look a little tired, baby." Derek grins, clearly teasing. "You wanna take a break?" He launches himself forward, sends another couple of punches to her face.

Kate rolls onto her back, groaning loudly, and then growling even louder in frustration.

"Now, this IS disappointing, Kate." Derek pouts. "You never used to bleed this easy as a human."

"Fuck you!!" Kate snarls viciously as she hops a little more gracefully back onto her feet. Her eyes glow bright blue, her claws and fangs bared.

"Mmm, maybe later. I like my girls to lie really still." Derek purrs, smirks at the underlining tone. He chuckles upon hearing the other hunter groaning quietly from the floor a few meters away. "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" He chuckles again when the hunter is unable to reply as he passes out once more. "Oh, good, ol' Chrissy. You can always count on him to tackle a bad situation," He grins. "And make it all the more worse. I mean, hey, look how YOU turned out, huh, Kate?"

Kate merely continues to glare back at him.

"But then again," Derek scoffs as he looks back at her. "I guess he really didn't have that much to work with in the first place."

Kate rolls her eyes. "Spare me the mind-fuck, X-Man. I know that you're just trying to get inside my head."

Derek smirks, shoots her a rather seductive look as he purrs out, "Not exactly the part of you I wanna get inside, but I guess it's a start."

Kate glares at him once again, though, only to will her cheeks from flushing. Which, she somehow (thankfully for her) manages to. "Chris told me you'd try to get to me, to make me fight back."

"Oh, no! Lemme guess, the stiff upper lip speech? "Blah, blah, blah, good over evil, blah, blah, blah. Do what must be done. Hang in there, kitten, it's almost Friday!"" Derek scoffs loudly as he takes a few slow stalking steps towards her, and is secretly impressed when she doesn't so much as even flinch in fear. She's not afraid of him, he knows this, she's afraid of herself. But hopefully for him, not for long. If he can't make a monster out of her, he'll kill her anyway. It's not skin off his nose.

Kate stands her ground, continues to glare defiantly as he continues to try to turn her back into the monster she once was.

Derek scoffs again, looks amused. "Is THAT what your idiotic big brother armed you with to fight the big, bad Boogey Man?"

"Yeah," Kate smirks, quickly dipping a hand into her back pocket and pulling out one of Allison's small dagger. "And this." She says before throwing the blade.

Derek hisses loudly in pain, glares down at the knife now sticking out of his lower stomach. And before he can even react, she is advancing towards him already.

Kate darts forward with lightening-quick movements, rips the knife carelessly back out of his stomach, smirking when she earns another loud and pain-filled hiss. She lands a few punches to his face, then, lands a harsh kick to his wounded stomach.

Derek growls in anger as he retreats a little bit, instead, leaps up onto the scaff-holding poles.

Kate grips the knife hard, eyes darting wildly around trying to find the wolf.

"That hurt, baby..." Derek's voice echoes loudly above her. "I kinda liked it..." He chuckles. "How about you?"

"Yeah, you bet I liked it." Kate snarls angrily back, even when she knows she should just ignore his comments.

"There's my girl... My La Loba..." Derek chuckles again. "I knew she was in there somewhere... Just dying to come out and play again..."

"Shut up!" Kate growls out, tossing the knife aside in fury. She wants to beat him with her bare hands before she takes him back to McCall. She thinks she at least deserves a few licks.

"I know how it feels, y'know?" Derek's voice seems rather sincere, now. "Forced to be someone you're not... Hurts right down to the core... You try to bury the pain, but you can't ever seem to dig a hole deep enough, can you, Kate? ...No matter how much to dig, it's still there... Broken shards, stabbing into your soul, everytime you breathe in, cutting you real deep..."

Kate tries to ignores his words, but only because they are as true for her as they are for the wolf. Especially after everything she's done.

"And there's only ever one way to make the pain stop, isn't there, Kate?"

Kate swirls around when she sees him leap back off of the scaff-holding, landing right in front of her.

Derek smirks as he adds, "Hurt someone else..."


	11. Punish Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "OR, is that why you really came back, huh?" Derek chuckles as he grabs her up by her throat, let's her feet barely dangle off the floor. "It wasn't enough to punish yourself in prison? Is that it?" He grins at her as he punches her in the face.

[Scott's and Allison's Apartment...]

"Are you fucking serious!?" Allison glares at her wolf.

Scott sighs heavily, replies with a pathetic, "Just to be clear here, it wasn't my idea."

"Uh, dude, YOU'RE the Alpha. You could have stopped them from leaving, y'know?" Stiles tells him, arches a brow and shoots his best friend a pointed look.

"Well, I tried..." Scott says, smiles sheepishly as he adds, "But Kate kinda... Kicked my ass." He huffs out the last part, the other two just barely hearing his words.

Stiles' brow raises further and before he can help himself, he burst out laughing. "What?" He chuckles out, clearly looks disbelieving. "Dude, Alpha." He repeats, this time, smirking in total amusement.

Allison can't help smiling, too. Although, she really is still very pissed off. "I just... I don't understand. Kate almost got herself killed the last time she went up against Derek. It's like she has a death wish or something. Plus, she's been acting really weird since she got back."

"Well, people change, after all. I mean, we all have." Stiles says, though, he's only trying to make her feel better. "Not to mention, prison changes you... I'm guessing."

Allison sends him a small, but grateful smile.

"Where have you been, by the way?" Scott suddenly asks, arching an inquisitive brow at his best friend. "I haven't seen you for, like, two days, bro'. What's going on?"

Stiles doesn't know how he lies, but he does. "Just been helping Lydia prepare for her conference meeting next week." He shrugs, casually adds, "Nothing extravagant... Or sexual... Unfortunately."

And thankfully for Stiles, both Scott and Allison simply smirk in amusement at one another.

+

[Meanwhile...]

Kate groans as she lands on her backside. She growls in annoyance, pulls out yet another of Allison's small throwing knives and jumps back up onto her feet.

Derek lunges for her, but she swipes the knife out at him and he has to back away. However, when she swings at him again, he grabs her wrist, tears the knife out and tosses it aside before backhanding her hard in the face. He then, sends a harsh fly-kick to her stomach, sending her flying upwards.

Kate lands on the first level of the scaffolding, on her face, with another groan. She quickly shakes off the pain of her aching body as best she can as she scrambles back up onto her feet just in time.

Derek leaps effortlessly up on the loose wooden panels, lands right in front of her. He dodges her punches, easily returning the with a harsh elbow her face.

Kate goes flying back, just about manages to save herself from falling - not that it would kill or even hurt her that much - by grabbing onto one of the scaffolding metal poles. She clings tightly to the outside of the scaffolding, then, successfully managing to avoid his next few attacks. But then, he finally connects his fist with her face, again, sending her back to the ground.

Derek arches a brow, secretly impressed when she manages to land effortlessly on her feet, this time. "I guess cats really DO always land on their feet, huh?" He lands right in front of her, sends another punch to her face, sending her to the ground at his feet. "Well," He scoffs out a chuckle as he grins down at her. "Most of the time, anyway..."

Kate snarls, her anger continuing to bubble up deep inside of her gut. And it's exhausting trying to fight that, as well as Derek.

Derek chuckles again, grabs her up by the throat and begins to punch her face relentlessly for a few moments.

Kate then, manages to punch him right back in the face, making him let go of her completely. She swirls around, tries to leap back up onto the scaffolding, but he grabs her ankle mid-air and drags her harshly back down, smacking her face into the marble ground.

"Oh, come on, now, Kate, you really aren't even trying anymore." Derek says as he kneels down beside her, looks genuinely disappointed. Even if he is still just taunting her, trying to get to her, trying to get her to come to him.

Kate merely glares up at him, ignores the warm trickle of blood gushing from her broken nose.

"OR, is that why you really came back, huh?" Derek chuckles as he grabs her up by her throat, let's her feet barely dangle off the floor. "It wasn't enough to punish yourself in prison? Is that it?" He grins at her as he punches her in the face. "Are ya STILL looking for someone to help beat the evil outta ya?" He chuckles, then, punches her in the face, again, harder. "But ya know what the hilarious part in all of this?" He chuckles, again, punches her in the face again, harder still. "I COULD beat you to death, of course, BUT it wouldn't even make the slightest difference." He punches her again, harder and harder. "NOTHING will ever change who you are, Kate." He snarls venomously, punches her again. "You're a murder." He punches her in the face one more time. "You're an animal." He then, kicks her hard, in the stomach, sends her flying back into the scaffolding, completely demolishing part of the structure.

Kate pants heavily, still somehow conscious, and breathing.

Derek smirks as he stands over her. "And you love it." He kicks her in the face, bends down and grabs her hair viciously, pulls her head back so that she can look him in the eyes. "Just like me..."

"...You are NOTHING, Kate. You are just an animal. A pet. MY pet. Do you understand me?"

Kate's father's words ring loudly in her mind for a few seconds, her fury only seeming to boil over. Finally. Enraged, then, Kate shoves him off of her and jumps gracefully back up onto her feet.

Derek grins, clearly ecstatic as he backs away slightly.

Kate charges forward, sends a few series of harsh punches to his face, finally makes the bastard wolf bleed, bruise and is satisfied with the loud crack both his jaw and nose make as she connects her fists with them.

Derek gasps, both in surprise and in pain when she kicks him hard in the crotch. He groans lowly, cupping himself with both hands as he slowly sinks to his knees.

Kate saunters up to him, stands right in front of him as she grabs a fistful of his hair and tugs it harshly, making him look her in the eyes. "You're right. I'm a murderer and an animal. But ya know what?" She arches a brow, smirks as she extends her claws on her other hand and holds it up for him to see. "Cat's are pretty smart animals. Smarter than dogs anyway." Her smirk widens and with one swift and quick movement, she sticks her claws deep into the wolf's stomach.

Derek gasps loudly at the initial pain. However, he almost chuckles when he realises she didn't go for the kill. Almost. His eyes widen as he glances up into her eyes. "Wh-what did y-you do?"

Kate grins wickedly down at him as she slowly re-tracts her claws. "Kanima venom, asshole. Pretty straight forward." She chuckles as she then casually adds, "Did you know that I was immune? Pretty neat, huh?"

Derek glares up at her, with murderous intent, of course. Because for now, that's all he can do. Well, all he has the motor-skills (for now) to do anyway...

"Kate! Holy fuck!! Are you alright!?" Conveniently then, Chris appears, rushing towards the scene with a look of complete horror on his face when he sees them both covered in blood. Most likely, one another's.

"Yeah..." Kate pants heavily, the fight finally getting to her. However, she still manages a smug smirk and a, "Totally kicked his ass." before slumps to the floor and finally, passes the fuck out...


	12. Orpheus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Orpheus." Stiles says, suddenly appearing in the doorway - the rifle let in Isaac's hands.

Allison rises from the couch at the sound of her front door opening and closing, at the sound of dragging feet and commotion. Her eyes widen then, instantly when she sees Derek's slumped, Scott and Isaac holding him up under his arms as they drag him through the apartment.

"We're okay. Derek's okay, too." Isaac confirms, noticing the look of concern written across her face.

"Stiles!" Scott calls out, sensing him in the bathroom.

Stiles comes rushing down the hallway, appearing in the room moments later. His eyes widen at the sight, much like Allison's.

"Pick up a tranq gun. I don't know how much time we have left before the venom wears off." Scott says to his best friend, who nods and darts back out of the room.

"He's unconscious, though, right?" Allison asks, looks very uneasy as she glares at the passed out wolf.

"Yeah." Isaac smirks. "Looks like Kate got her own back and fucked him up." His smirk widens a little as he motions to all of the cuts and bruises littering the unconscious wolf, then adds, "With a cherry on top."

Scott deposits the other wolf onto the couch, huffing as he stands straight and glares down at him. "God, he's heavy. And I have super-strength, for crying out loud."

Allison manages a small, but amused smirk, despite her increasing worry.

"What happened!?" Stiles exclaims, finally managing words as he re-enters with another tranquilliser rifle under his arm.

Scott shrugs lazily. "Chris called, so we went." He explains simply, motioning to himself and Isaac, who stands beside the Alpha.

"Where is he?" Allison finally asks, then quickly adds, "Where's Kate?"

Scott and Isaac share a rather wary look.

Allison only grows impatient when she notices this. "What happened to Kate!?" She finally snaps just as the front door opens again.

"She captured Derek." Chris pipes up, suddenly standing there in the doorway. And he's not alone.

Allison's eyes widen in horror, her jaw dropping as she sees her aunt's limp form held in her father's arms.

"Holy shit..." Stiles breathes. "What'd he do to her?"

+

[A Half Hour Later...]

Scott scowls deeply as he watches Allison clean her aunt's wounds, Kate unconscious, laid back on their bed. He knows something isn't right here. Kate should already be awake. She's immune to the kanima venom, he knows that. So, what's keeping her from doing just that? He suspects, but he doesn't want to say anything in front of Allison, in fear of upsetting her, or having her upset and angry with her father. He can never come between them like that.

Chris can sense the Alpha's glare on the back of his head as he stands over his sister and daughter. However, he doesn't care. He's worried about Kate, obviously, but he trusts her, trust she knows what she's doing here. He just hopes she can pull through the other side.

Allison jumps slightly in surprise when Kate begins to twitch lightly in her deep slumber.

"S-scratch you out..." Kate mumbles out, words barely above a whisper.

Allison frowns, deeply confused, glances up to her father for an answer.

Chris' brow furrows in concern, his eyes fixed on his baby sister.

+

Stiles and Isaac both jump back from the unconscious wolf when he begins to twitch lightly. Both their eyes are wide, their stances halfway between running and ready to fight as Stiles clutches his rifle and Isaac (somewhat pathetically) clutches Stiles' arm in anticipation.

"Dude!" Stiles finally hisses, shaking out of the wolf's grip. "You're cutting off my circulation."

Isaac merely smiles sheepishly in response, but both of them let out rather girly gasps of fright when they hear the unconscious wolf groan quietly.

"S-scratch you out..." Derek mumbles out, words barely above a whisper.

Stiles is relieved to find that he's not yet waking up, but also slightly confused now. "How long does it take you guys to come around after being K.O.ed?"

Isaac arches a brow at the random question, but replies with, "I dunno. Not long usually. Few minutes. Half hour, at the most. I guess it depends on how hard you get hit." He frowns, then asks, "Why?"

"Shouldn't he have woken up by now?" Stiles asks curiously, looks somewhat sceptical as he motions to the unconscious sour wolf. "Chris said he darted his werewolf ass when Kate fed him the venom... But... It's like she's in a coma or something... Hmm..."

+

"K-keep... Keep digging..." Kate grumbles out, glares in her deep slumber.

"She's not making any sense." Allison's concern only grows as she sits by her aunt's side, tightly holding one of her hands in both her own.

"Yeah..." Scott snorts loudly at that, finally unable to bare keeping a lid on his thoughts - and suspicions - any longer. "Speaking of making ANY sense..." He turns his glare onto Chris. "Have you gone on a permanent sabbatical from YOURS!?" His glare only hardens when the hunter simply stares calmly back at him. "Please, tell me that you did NOT pump your sister full of mystical drugs and feed her to Derek!!"

Allison's eyes widen, and somewhere in between horror and anger, she hisses out a, "What!?" while glaring up at her father.

"It was her choice." Chris says with a heavy sigh. "Kate knew all of the risks."

"Oh, please! She couldn't!" Scott snaps angrily. "Chris, I KNOW what that drug does to people. I've seen it all before, and more than once. And especially when you're super-charged with super-strength and a triple dosage to make sure the shit gets the job done properly! And you damn well know all of that, too!"

"Scott," Allison breathes calmly, shoots him a look.

Scott huffs loudly, but manages to force himself to calm down. Well, only a little bit. But still.

"Dad," Allison shoots her father a stern look. "Tell me what she took."

"Orpheus." Stiles says, suddenly appearing in the doorway - the rifle let in Isaac's hands.

"Orpheus?" Allison asks. "Some kind of opiate?"

"Yep. Of the mystical variety." Stiles nods. "Humans normally inject it and the vampires feed off of those humans. Some assholes tried dealing around a few clubs in town, three years ago. Chris helped my dad shut down their operations."

Both Scott and Allison arch a brow at that as they glance towards the hunter.

"This drug isn't entirely physical. It's enchanted. That's what makes it so dangerous." Stiles says, wearing an uneasy look as he stares over at the unconscious blonde. "It leads you down to Hell, and leaves you there..."

+

Derek glances around his surroundings, what he recognises as the forest lands surrounding his childhood home. He just doesn't know or even remember how he got here. He arches a brow when he sees a familiar figure stalking through the trees and straight towards him.

It's him.

He knows this, remembers this. Remembers stalking angrily back to his burnt down home after telling McCall and Stilinski to scram from his property.

The younger (by only seven years) Derek storms right through Derek, literally, as if he were just a ghost.

"Hey!" Derek hisses. "What is THAT abou -" He swirls around, is cut off when he sees the burnt out shell of his childhood home, watches as the other Derek marches in and slams the door behind him.

"You tell me. I mean, it's YOUR flashback."

Derek swirls around, glares instantly when he sees the blonde standing there, smirking smugly at him. "You!" He growls, instantly launches himself at her, also goes right fucking through her!

"Y'know what the definition of insanity is, baby?" Kate chuckles as she slowly turns around to face him. "Performing the same task, over and over again, and expecting different results." She grins cheekily as she adds, "I learned THAT in rehab."

"Alright, little Miss Blow-It-All." Derek snaps, clearly very irritated. "This is MY flashback. So why're YOU in it!?"

"Beats me." Kate shrugs lazily as she glances curiously around. "Must be the magical side effects of my incredibly simple ruse."

Derek scoffs loudly. "Okay, fine." He huffs, even louder, glances around in more concern than anything else. "So, what is this, exactly, huh? Puff-the-Magic-Dragon City? Magic Roundabout World? Fucking Fairyland?"

Kate smirks in amusement as she watches the wolf, clearly enjoying herself. Maybe a little too much, but who cares? She doesn't. "You'd think, huh?" She teases lightly. "Me? I dunno, but I'm guessing that's it's more about, "Derek, this is your life. Now, get the fuck over yourself." Seriously, though, did you lose your sense of humour?"

Derek scoffs again, though, glares over at the house, where he can see the other Derek sulking behind one of the broken windows. "All he did was fucking mope and brood! The entire way home!" He rolls his eyes. "I mean, would it have killed him to rip of Stilinski's arms as a warning!?" He growls, grows more annoyed. "Fuck it! Why is this happening!? This is HIS life! NOT mine!" He glares back over at the blonde. "This is YOUR fault!"

"How'd you figure?" Kate arches a brow.

"You fucking drugged me, you bitch!" Derek shrieks - how very werewolf-like - shoots her an incredulous look.

Kate smirks as she simply replies, "Yeah, well, you had it coming. I asked you to play nice, and you didn't."

Derek shoots her yet another murderous glare. "Whatever!" He huffs, glares back over at the other Derek - still lurking in the window of his old bedroom, like a complete and utter douchebag. "It annoyed the shit outta me the first time around! This fucking sucks!" He glares back at her again as he adds, "Why the Hell do YOU get to be Casper the limp ghost!?"

"'Cause I'm dying, dumbshit." Kate states with a roll of her eyes. She feels oddly calm about that fact.

"Not soon enough." Derek mutters.

Kate rolls her eyes again. "The way I see it? I've got one last job before I pop the chain. Babysit your psycho face until Stiles shoves a soul up your furry -"

"NOT gonna happen." Derek cuts her off with a sharp tone and a scalding look.

Kate sighs loudly, clearly exasperated. "Fine." She throws her hands up. "Then, I'm... Whatever... Candle in the wind... Dust in the wind..." She frowns slightly. "There being a general wind theme..."

Derek scoffs, looks almost amused. "And I thought those suicidal tendencies were squashed in that whole enlightenment thing of yours." Because he knows she not done yet, she just doesn't care what happens to her anymore. And he knows all too well what that feels like.

"I rolled the dice and paid even." Kate replies casually with a limp shrug.

It's exactly like in a dream, where you blink in that dream and that split second is just enough time for the world around you to shift. That's what suddenly happens and no longer are they standing in the forest. Instead, they now stand on the streets of New York City.

"Wow, trippy..." Kate mutters as she glances up at the night's sky.

"Oh, shit, no..." Derek seems to pale a little as recognition flits across his face. "This - this is New York... Oh, God, no! I remember this... I gotta get outta here! Now!"

Kate frowns in utter confusion at the panicked expression on the wolf's face. "Why? What're you freaking out about?"

Derek's eyes widen in horror as the same baby blue Cadillac turns around the busy street corner he's standing on. "Oh, God! It's coming! Again! Please, no!"

"What's coming?" Kate only grows more confused, then finally spots the other Derek walking down the sidewalk towards them, his usual scowl on his handsome, stubbly face.

"No!" Derek growls, now looking more angry than anything else. "I can't do this again! I won't!"

Kate ignores crazy, evil Derek, her eyes widening in terror when she sees the other Derek wonder out into the road, in the way of the on-coming Cadillac. "Derek, get outta the road!" She yells out, even when she knows he can't hear her, can't even see her.

Derek grits his teeth, staring helplessly on in complete and utter outraged as the other Derek rushes across the road and scoops up the loose Shiatsu puppy.

Kate's eyes widen in surprise mostly as she watches the other Derek gently hand the dog back to it's owner on the other side of the road.

"Nooo! Fuck it!" Derek yells, downright livid at this point.

"You rescued a cute, little puppy?" Kate asks, using those words especially to get the reaction she does from him.

"I am gonna kill you when we wake up!" Derek screeches, pointing a finger at her.

Kate can't help the wide and smug smirk that slowly crawls across her lips. She ignores his glare, quickly turns back to the other Derek to see the rest of the memory play out.

"Oh, my stars!" The owner - a pretty Southern brunette - smiles somewhat flirtatiously up at the other Derek. "Why thank you, hon'! How can I ever repay yah?" She adds that last part with a batt of her heavy lashes.

The other Derek simply stares blankly back at her for a few moments, though, he looks incredible awkward.

"I'm in Hell." Derek groans. "This is Hell. And I'm in it."

Kate chuckles, clearly having the time of her life. Even if it'll be over real soon, now.

"We haven't given in since we were fifteen! FIFTEEN!" Derek whines loudly, glaring over at himself, his other self. "She's fucking begging for it, you stupid shitbag!"

"Get lost."

Kate arches a brow at that.

"S'cuse me?" The brunette looks shocked.

"You heard me." The other Derek says, his voice as calm as his expression. "Scram, you skank."

Kate looks shocked, too, at that.

The brunette gasps, clutching her puppy to her chest as she then glares up at him. "Well, fuck you, asshole!" She snarls out venomously before huffing and storming angrily passed him.

"Huh. We're reliving your good deeds." Kate grins over at the wolf. "Awesome."


	13. Seven Bottles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "'Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm weary... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm tired and a long way from home... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm lonely... Seven bottles, seven bottles, I think I've had... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I tried to hide the shame... Seven bottles, seven bottles, makes a weary man stumble towards every frame...'"

While Allison stays by her aunt's bedside, Scott and the others are crowded in the living room, trying to figure out their next move.

"There's really only one thing we can all do for Kate, now -" Chris says, gaining the attention of the others. "Finish what she started."

"Y'mean shove a soul up sourwolf's ass, right?" Stiles pipes up, wearing an expectant look.

"Right." Chris nods, while biting back a small, but amused smile.

"Okay, good." Stiles nods, smiles sheepishly. "Just so we're all on the same page here."

"But we don't even know where to begin." Scott says. "We have no clue where Derek's soul is."

"But we know who has it." Isaac notes.

"Right," Stiles nods. "Compton's puppet master."

"So, what're we gonna do, now?" Scott asks, staring mostly towards the hunter for answers. He knows he's the Alpha, but Kate is Chris' little sister, his family, one of the only two members he has left.

"I already called in the cavalry." Chris says. "Braeden."

"Braeden?" Scott, Stiles and Isaac ask in unison, then all glare at one another.

Chris rolls his eyes before replying. "She's got a secret talent for magic. I've known her for a while, now, and she owes me for saving her life. So, I finally called in that favour."

"I better not get shot this time around." Braeden stands in the doorway, smirking as the two wolves stare curiously at her. "I always seem to get shot when I'm with you, Argent." She adds, shooting the hunter a pointed look.

"How'd you creep in here without me hearing?" Scott all, but whines, now glaring at her.

"Practice." Braeden replies with a lazy shrug.

Scott simply huffs.

Braeden smirks. "So, what'd I miss?"

+

"Don't worry, Kate," Allison smiles softly as she runs her fingers gently through her aunt's golden locks. "We'll bring you back. I promise."

Allison sighs tiredly as her aunt's body continues to twitch every now and then. Finally, her eyes feel heavy enough for her to carefully lay down on the bed beside Kate. She curls around her aunt, her arm tucked neatly around her waist as her nose buried in the crook of the older woman's neck.

She closes her eyes, and for a few moments, Allison enjoys the surprising warmth still coming from her aunt. And then, softly, mostly to herself, she begins to sing.

"'Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm weary... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm tired and a long way from home... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I'm lonely... Seven bottles, seven bottles, I think I've had... Seven bottles, seven bottles, and I tried to hide the shame... Seven bottles, seven bottles, makes a weary man stumble towards every frame...'"

+

"Oh, God! Keep bringing the fucking pain on!" Derek whines loudly, because he's standing in that stupid doughnut shop in San Francisco again! And this night just keeps getting worse and worse when he sees the other Derek suddenly walk in.

Kate laughs at the clothes the other Derek's wearing. "Nice surfer look, dude." She teases, clearly loving every single second.

Derek is simply seething as he watches the other Derek walk over to the jukebox.

Kate's practically fucking beaming her heart out as she watches the other Derek sway slightly to the beat, clearly in his own little world. "'Mandy', huh?" She grins over at crazy, evil Derek, who looks like he's about to have a nervous breakdown (or go on a very violent murdering spree.)

Derek huffs loudly, irritated by that annoying buzzing sound he keeps hearing.

"It must really kill you inside that secretly, you love the power-ballads." Kate merely grins when he shoots her a "I will tear your face off" glare.

"The concerts we went to were so much fucking worse!" Derek snaps, glaring back over at himself. He then snarls with outrage when he sees the longing look in his eyes as he watches the couple sitting by a window. "Do you know what that's like?" He snaps, glancing back at the blonde. "Everytime HE get close, I feel it!" He growls. "Wanting to tear their flesh apart... The hunger... It's a blade in MY fucking gut!"

Kate rolls her eyes at the over-dramatic wolf. "Only, it's not YOU'RE gut, princess. "He's the one who belongs on the outside," She says, motioning towards the other Derek, then stares pointedly back at him and adds, "Not you."

Derek scoffs loudly as he watches himself turn away from the couple and go over to sit at the bar instead. "You really think it's that cut and dry, don't you?" He shoots her a withering look. "That is," He smirks. "If I get my soul back -"

"WHEN you get your soul back."

Derek's smirk only widens as he continues. "You think you're gonna just hang up your working boots and then go riding off into the sunset knowing that you put the monster back in his cage?"

Kate's eyes widen as he literally disappears within out of thin air.

"But I'm always there, Kate... Deep inside..."

Kate swirls around to see him standing there.

"Things are about to get a whole lot better..." Derek grins at her, the both of them watching as an armed robber enters the shop.

"Open the cash register and gimme all the money or I'll fucking kill you!"

The cashier's eyes widen as he immediately does as he's told, fumbling around to open the cash register.

Kate's eyes widen as the robber grabs shoots the cashier in the chest, grabs a handful of money and darts out of the shop along with all of the screaming customers.

"Oh, shit..." The other Derek's eyes widen in horror as he glances down at the cashier, bleeding heavily from his wound.

"H-help me..."

"Oh, no, Doc'! I think we're losing him!" Derek dramatically cries, though, it's clear he's mocking the entire situation, mocking the memory, his stupid memory.

Kate watches on, helpless from doing anything.

"God, I LOVE this episode!" Derek chuckles gleefully.

The other Derek is knelt beside the cashier, the young man barely out of his teens.

"P-please..."

"I... I'm sorry..." The other Derek shakes his head softly, letting the man know there's nothing he can do, that it's too late, because he can't bare to say the words aloud.

Kate sighs heavily, turning away from the scene as the cashier breathes his final breath.

"So," Derek scoffs as he finally turns to face the blonde. "Who's your big hero now?"

Kate glares at him. "It wasn't even Derek's fault. Fuck!" She snaps. "Does he have to pay for everything!?"

"Choices, kitten." Derek tuts, playfully scalding her, because there's more, so much more to come. And he's going to enjoy every single second of it. "The ones you make with your heart of hearts."

Kate watches somewhat curiously as the other Derek stumbles over to the shop door and hesitantly locks it before turning back around.

"Uh-oh! What's gonna happen next?" Derek sings tauntingly, grinning from ear to ear as he watches both the memory and the blonde's reaction.

"No... He wouldn't... He won't..." Kate briefly closes her eyes at the look of pure want and bloodlust on the other Derek's face as he hovers timidly over the dead cashier. She simply dreads it, even if she knows really that it's going to happen, has happened.

"In deep, Kate." Derek reminds her, shoots her a pointed look. "Soul or no soul."

"Derek..." Kate tiptoes closer, knows it's pointless trying to do anything, but she can't help herself. Especially when the wolf finally lunges forward. "Don't!"

Derek chuckles as he watches himself lick at the fresh blood with the utmost ferocity.

"Ugh." Kate mutters, turning her nose up in pure disgust as she forces herself to look away.

Derek grins, grin only widening when she glares at him.

"He was gonna save him." Kate states, shoots him a defiant look. "It still counts. The want was still there."

Derek sighs loudly, sounds exasperated as he shakes his head. "OR," He smirks, glancing over at the pathetic, whimpering, slobbering, bloody mess of a wolf. "Did he choose to be a little slow on the uptake?" His smirk widens even more. "Oops!" His green orbs twinkle with mischief. "Dinner, by armed robbery, anyone?"

Kate's glare hardens, her eyes narrow all the more.

"Just look at him, Kate." Derek scoffs, glancing over at himself in complete disgust. "You're a murderer, so you'd know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Seven Bottles' - song by Ben Howard.


	14. Not About You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe because it's not actually about YOU, asshole."

Allison lightly dabs away the tears from her aunt's face, as Chris stands beside them.

"She's in the barrens, now." Stiles says, standing the other side of the bedside. "They cry for a while. Mostly real quiet, though." He sighs tiredly as he adds, "Kinda like they're letting go of anything that ever meant something to them."

"How long? Until she...?" Allison asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

Stiles shoots her a gentle, almost apologetic look as he replies softly, "Not long."

Allison merely nods before curling back around her unconscious aunt; the big sister she never had.

"You did the right thing, Chris. Kate was really brave, and she didn't have to be. Even if she doesn't make it through, that's what we'll remember her for." Scott states as he appears in the doorway. He's a lot calmer now, has had time to think. And he gets it. Well, not fully, because he doesn't have half the problems Kate's had, but he's had enough of his own. So he understands that people sometimes do crazy things when they're desperate. God knows that he has.

Chris simply shoots the Alpha a look of genuine gratitude. But it's not over yet. He has faith in his sister. He knows she's strong. Stronger than their father realised or even she realises herself.

"Is it time?" Stiles ask his best friend.

Scott nods, glances to his fiancé. "Stay with Kate."

Allison simply nods, curls herself even tighter around the blonde as the others all leave them alone in the room.

+

[The Living Room - 5 Minutes Later...]

"So, I did a little location spell," Braeden explains. "But I was blocked, which means only one thing; that Derek's soul is being contained."

"In what? Like a magic vault or something?" Isaac asks, eyes wide with wonder.

Braeden smirks. "No, it's more likely just being held in a box or a jar or something. Soul's are practically spirits, they're easy to trap with everyday objects."

"Oh..." Isaac blushes lightly, smiles awkwardly.

"So," Braeden continues. "Before I restore Derek's soul, I have to do a spell in order to break whatever's trapping it."

"How's the spell work?" Stiles asks, keen with interest as he follows the mercenary towards the dining room table, where her supplies have already been set up.

"All I gotta do is contact the spirit world, harness the Delothrian ebb, and then, focus it through my marble of doom here." Braeden explains, motioning to (tennis ball size) metal sphere as she picks it up. "And then, I'll restore the Muo-Ping's entropic equilibrium."

Stiles arches a brow at all of the confusing words. "Wow..." He's a little speechless. "You're like, on a whole different level."

Braeden smirks, clearly amused. "Well, I've been practising magic for almost ten years, now." She smiles at him. "Don't worry, you'll get there."

"Yeah," Stiles scoffs, then pouts slightly. "Eventually."

"So, when you do this spell, the jar or box or whatever breaks?" Scott asks.

"Yep." Braeden nods. "Breaks or burns, whatever."

"That's all I need to know." Scott states with a shrug. "While you're doing that, I'll be in the guest room, just in case the Prince of Darkness decides to wake up and cause havoc again."

"I'll go with you." Chris says, follows quickly after the Alpha as they leave the room.

"You ready?" Isaac asks, stands the other side of the table.

"Yeah, it should be a piece of piss." Braeden smiles brightly.

Isaac arches a brow, not looking too convinced. "Should?"

Braeden grins broadly. "Hey, I DO know what I'm doing. I've restored someone's soul before."

"Someone?" Stiles squeaks. "As in, only the one person before Derek?"

Braeden chuckles. "Relax. I'm good at this."

And just as those words leave her mouth, a large bolt of lightning rips through the air from out of nowhere. Braeden screams as it hits her right in the chest, makes her go flying backwards, crashing onto the coffee table.

"Stay your hands, witch!" The voice bellows, the walls shaking violently. "You will NOT interfere in what MUST come to pass!"

Stiles squeals loudly, Isaac sounding almost as pathetic as they both jump back in fright and end up hugging tightly to one another. They realises a moment after, instantly shoving each other harshly away.

Braeden groans, tries to cover her ears at the voice booming through her mind as well as the air around them. She grits her teeth, slowly stands and begins a quick chant, "'Invadoria disapru!'"

The voice cackles loudly. "You think you can banish ME?"

"There's someone in my fucking head!" Braeden growls.

"Ah, n-no..." Stiles mumbles, considerably pale as he glances around at the shaking walls.

"We can all hear it." Isaac hisses, glaring wildly around for the owner of the voice.

"As long as Derek's soul is under MY protection, it CANNOT be freed."

"'Vetsche invadoria disapru!'" Braeden chants louder, angrier.

"Shit! He's too powerful!" Isaac growls, staring helplessly at Braeden struggles for a few moments.

Suddenly then, Braeden finally finds herself, finds the balance between the dark and the light. Her eyes blacken, the whites, too, her hands held out either side of her, the metal ball now floating freely in front of her face.

"Uh," Stiles glances between her and the wolf. "Dude, I think she can handle it."

Braeden grits her teeth as she bites out the words, "'Open the window. Fill this stone. Inside and outside. Two, made one...'"

+

[Lydia's Studio Apartment - Meanwhile...]

Lydia's eyes narrow as she feels the strain, and it's a powerful one, she has to admit at least that.

"Oh, you wanna go, bitch?" Lydia snarls out as she glares at the image of Braeden through her mind. "Okay," She scoffs, almost laughs. "We'll go."

Lydia grins wickedly as she opens her palms and lays them flat on the desk in front of her. Softly, then, she simply clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

+

Braeden is thrown across the room again by another bolt of lightning. This time, however, she's instantly back up on her feet, the metal ball still in front of her.

Stiles and Isaac simply watch, both with wide, slightly terror-filled eyes.

"'Alesh ashtoreth!'" Braeden yells out, her words firm, loud and ferocious.

+

Lydia growls loudly in frustration. "I will END you!"

+

Kate finds herself standing in an alleyway in downtown Chicago, crazy evil Derek standing beside her as she watches the other Derek wonder towards them, completely covered in blood and half naked.

"It'll all be worth it in the end." Crazy, evil Derek scoffs. "Is that what you keep telling yourself, Kate?"

Kate glares at him.

Derek grins mischievously as he adds, "Is that the kinda nasty, little lie that kept those nice, supple thighs of yours warm in your prison bunker late at night?"

"You kiss your mama with that?" Kate counters, her glare hardening, though, only to keep her from blushing furiously.

"No," Derek chuckles. "But I almost ate her throat out with it once. Ahh, good times."

Kate merely rolls her eyes.

"Oh, no, baby, guess what?" Derek grins excitedly. "Your time's almost up. You're fading, fast. I can feel it."

"All the same," Kate is certain, yet oddly, somewhere in the back of her mind - "I keep hearing this voice in the distance..." She smirks at him when she finally realises - "It's telling me that you're about to get what's coming to you..."

"Or not." Derek smirks back. "I've got friends in high places, y'see. HIM," He adds, glares over at the other Derek. "NOT being one of them."

Kate swirls around just in time to see the other Derek tearing into a poor rat with his canines. "Ugh!" She winces, wrinkles her nose in disgust. "When was THIS?"

"When WASN'T it!" Derek snarls angrily, still glaring over at himself. "Three years after the doughnut shop, and his fingers never smelled of anything, BUT rat! "I'm so sorry for being a total loser!"" He mocks. ""I give up! I'm just gonna go live in a fucking sewer!""

And tonight is the night that Kate realises just how far Derek has really come. The real Derek. How controlled he is. Why he is so controlled. Because when he isn't, it's fucking bad. And she knows all too well just how that feels.

"It's pathetic." Derek grunts.

"He's trying to pay for what he did." Kate says, shoots him yet another defiant look. Because she's not going to give up him.

"He's trying to hide from what he really is." Derek counters, shoots her a withering look. "Which, by the way, may be a big Psyche 101 for YOU, but I already know all of this shit. Why do I have to go through it all again!?"

"Maybe because it's not about YOU, asshole."

Both Derek's and Kate's eyes snap over to the other Derek, who, is actually looking straight at them. Well, looking at crazy, evil Derek. And more like glaring at him, really.

+

"Holy shit! What is THAT!?" Stiles all, but squeals as he stands behind Chris.

"It's a big-ass, floating demon head!" Isaac yelps out as he moves to stand behind both the spark and the hunter.

"Ignore it!" Braeden snaps before she refocusses on the metal ball still floating in front of her blackened orbs. "'Find your target. Leave my side.'"

+

"Floating demon head not scary enough? Fine!" Lydia growls. "Then, why don't we try -"

She feels it just in time, holds up her hand just as the metal sphere reaches the glass jar on her desk in front of her.

Lydia grits her teeth, "And now, she's getting on my last fucking nerve!"


	15. Kill Derek, Stiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have to kill Derek, Stiles..."

It only takes a moment, but in that moment her phone suddenly rings somewhere in the room behind her, and Lydia's concentration instantly breaks.

She jumps at the sound of Stiles' personalised ring tone - 'I Need A Dollar' - and the sound of glass shattering instantly sounds throughout her bedroom.

Lydia's eyes widen as they dart back to the now broken jar, watches as Derek's soul darts off out of the open window and then, finally yells out, "FUUUUCK!"

+

"It's done." Braeden smiles, her blackened orbs quickly returning to normal as she turns to face the wolf and the spark. "Now, all we gotta do is shove Derek's soul back up Derek's ass."

Isaac arches a brow. "Is that really the hole it goes through?" He's only half joking, though, is slightly curious.

"No." Braeden laughs loudly at that. "It'd be pretty awesome if it was, though."

"Lydia's not answering." Stiles huffs as he shoves his phone back into his pocket. "I'm gonna go see if she's okay." He says as he heads towards the front door.

"Stiles, I'm sure she's fine." Isaac shoots the older man a strange look.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Stiles nods, opening the door. "But she's got a habit of finding dead bodies, remember?" He says simply before closing the door behind him.

"Scott's not gonna be happy about him wondering off again." Isaac grumbles, mostly to himself.

Braeden arches a questioning brow at the wolf when he huffs quietly. "What's his deal anyway? I don't remember Stilinski being so uptight."

"Beats me." Isaac shrugs, completely clueless. Because Stiles smells a lot more like anxiety and fear than he usually does and has done for the passed few weeks, now.

+

Derek glares over at himself, the pathetic version of himself, as far as he's concerned. "I don't believe this shit!" He snaps. "YOU'RE the one behind this whole sappy Hollywood sob story!?"

Kate smiles, despite the pain she's starting to feel throughout her entire incorporial body. "Derek," She smiles over at him, the real Derek, as far as she's concerned. "It's really good to see you, again." She chuckles at his blood soaked, dirt-covered form, adds a cheeky, "I gotta say; I'm not loving the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre look you've got going on right now."

"Kate?" Derek's eyes finally land on hers, but he seems confused more than anything. "Why are you still here?"

Kate doesn't know if she should be hurt by that, but she doesn't, because she seems to understand his confusion, without even knowing how. "I'm just waiting to see this little four-legged pervert," She motions towards crazy, evil Derek, who glares at her. "Get stuffed back into the deep, dark hole he crawled his way out of."

"Then, what?" Derek asks, both his voice and expression calm. "What happens after that?"

Before Kate can even open her mouth to answer this time, crazy, evil Derek kicks her hand in the stomach. She goes flying, her back smashing hard into one of the brick walls, denting them with the force.

Evil Derek smirks over at himself. "Probably something like that." He chuckles as he glances briefly back at Kate, who's groaning in pain and slumped on the floor in a heap of limbs. "I had a feeling the rules might have changed here." He says as he grins wickedly back over at himself.

"She's not the one you really wanna hurt." Derek glares at him, manages to balance the anger, like he's done now, for so long.

Kate barely manages a smile, can barely keep her eyes open, now. She's fading fast, like evil Derek said. She can feel it, too. She doesn't know how long she has left, but she suspects it's minutes, if that.

"No, kidding, rat boy!" Evil Derek chimes sarcastically as he saunters slowly over to himself. "The little kitty'll just be kibble for me once I'm done with YOU."

"Well, come on. Let's get it over with." Derek stands in front of himself, both glaring at one an other before growling out in unison, "I've been waiting a LONG time for this..."

+

Lydia's more than angry, but when Stiles suddenly bursts into her apartment, she has to put on a good show. Because now that Derek's soul is on the loose, she needs to go to her Plan B.

Tears well up, flowing freely as the pregnant redhead waddles over to him as fast as she possibly can.

"Lydia!" Stiles' eyes are wide when he notices the fear, the complete frantic look on her face. "Shit, baby! Are you okay!?"

"I-I felt it. Whatever Braeden was doing. Chris called me and told me she was coming to help restore Derek's soul, but I told him it was a bad idea!" Lydia wails, crying and clinging tightly to the spark's forearms.

"Fuck!" Stiles hisses, his eyes wide with concern more than anything, now. "Are you okay!? Is our baby okay!?"

"We were almost killed!" Lydia cries out, sobbing loudly as she presses her face into his chest.

Stiles holds her tightly, his arms secured around the back of her shoulders. "Braeden's spell must've opened up a gateway to something evil." He mutters angrily as he presses a soft kiss to the top of her strawberry locks.

"If she keeps it up, there's no telling what will happen." Lydia mumbles, hiccupping for good measure. "She's probably already let Hell itself into our world."

"I know. I've seen it." Stiles nods as he pulls back to brush a few strands out her delicately out of her face. "It's not safe for you. All of this magic and violence." He smiles reassuringly as he adds, "I'm gonna make her stop. Don't you worry."

"You can't! She's too powerful!" Lydia stares up at him through wide, fear-filled ocean green orbs.

Stiles sighs heavily, because he knows she right. "Then, what do I do?" He asks, glances helplessly down at her, waiting for her guidance. Because Lydia's always been there for him, even when he knew she didn't want to be sometimes, most times.

"You can make it stop. The reason for all of this chaos." Lydia smiles, looks very hopefully up at him through under her thick eyelashes.

"How?" Stiles arches a brow.

Lydia sighs before answering, "You can kill Derek..."

And for some reason, in that moment, Stiles isn't as shocked as he probably should be.

+

"Kate!" Derek calls out to her as he punches evil Derek in the face. "Kate, get up! You have to get have to get."

"C-can't..." Kate shakes her head ever so slightly, can barely move, now.

"Listen to me!" Derek yells over at her, defiant and demanding as he sends another punch to evil Derek.

"D-Derek, I'm dying..." Kate coughs loudly, feels the warm blood spray from her mouth as she does, feels her organs slowly shutting down, failing her, one by one.

"Yeah. And it's still a lot easier than redemption, isn't it?" Derek arches a brow at her as he dodges one of evil Derek's kicks.

And even despite the fact that she's slowly dying, Kate still somehow manages a small smile of amusement at those words. Because it's so true, of course. She's dying, but she's never felt so peaceful in all of her living. Funny, that.

But maybe it's because she's giving up, letting go. And that's still something that bugs her, because to Kate, there's no honour in giving up. She wouldn't have put herself through prison, otherwise.

Evil Derek growls in annoyance as he punches the other Derek in the face. "Always SO concerned with the stupid human condition!" He punches him again, sends him flying down the alleyway. "It's no big mystery. They're here, they suffer, and then, they die. It's all they're here for."

Derek ignores him, grabs him in a headlock as he looks over at the blonde. "I'm not perfect, Kate. Even with a soul, I've done things that I regret deeply. Things I wish I could take back over a million times."

Evil Derek finally rips himself free, shoves the other Derek angrily back. "Yeah, like those fucking Barry Manilowe concerts!" He punches him in the face with all his might. "You pathetic fucking idiot!"

+

"So, now Derek's soul is just floating around out there like a free spirit?" Scott arches a brow, then sighs tiredly. "Great. That's just great."

Braeden merely rolls her eyes at the True Alpha. True, indeed. She had seen him in action, on more than one occasion.

"Until she channels it into her metal orb thingy anyway." Isaac pipes up.

Braeden arches a brow at him, looks slightly impressed. Even if he didn't use the correct words.

"What?" Isaac smiles sheepishly. "I listen."

Braeden smiles at him, smirks when he blushes lightly and averts his iron blue gaze from her.

"Stiles shouldn't have run off." Scott grumbles. "I rang him a whole bunch of times and he didn't pick up."

"I tried to tell him." Isaac says.

Scott sighs, but nods, shoots him a grateful look that tells the younger wolf he's not pissed at him.

He's pissed at Stiles. He's been acting so weird lately.

And Lydia? He's barely even seen her at all in the last couple of weeks.

"I'm sure he's just worried about Lydia." Chris suggests. "He seems totally unaware of his creepy love for her."

Scott chuckles at that. "Nah, he knows."

Chris simply smirks in amusement.

+

"You have to kill Derek, Stiles... Before he causes any more hurt... You have to... You HAVE to, Stiles..."

"...I will."


	16. Time is Never Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Our time is never up, Kate." Derek says, shoots her a pointed look. "We pay for everything, eventually. One by one."

"Okay," Braeden nods as she and the hunter stand opposite one another. "I'm ready when you are."

As the witch holds a crystal ball in her hands, Chris holds the spell book in his arms, reading from it, because she has it memorised, has most things memorised.

Chris nods, then, begins to read from the book, starts the spell off for her. "'Quod perditum est invenietur...'"

"'Nisi mort. Nisi al finitei. Te invoc, spirit al trecerii...'" Braeden murmurs loud and clear, her eyes slowly turning black again, the crystal ball slowly floating free from her hands.

Scott watches with an arch brow.

Isaac is silently impressed as his eyes focus on the beautiful wiccan.

Whereas Liam looks on with a wide and enthusiastic gaze of wonder.

Yeah, it's still kind of scary to him, this supernatural underworld, but he still thinks it awesome. Sometimes anyway.

+

"You know that I've fought just as hard as anyone else to save Derek... But at some point, eventually, there comes the time when you have to weight everything up - risk verses reward... And as much as I love Derek as a friend and a pack member, killing him is the ONLY way to make sure our family stays safe..."

+

The walls begin to shake, and Scott feels uneasy about the whole thing, but he keeps his opinions to himself. It's nothing to do with Braeden or her magic really. He just has a bad feeling slowly beginning to bubble away in the pit of his stomach. Like he knows something bad is going to happen tonight.

And of course, in Beacon Hills, it's highly likely.

"I'm gonna go check on Derek." Scott says, suddenly feels like he needs to keep a close eye on the other wolf. Just in case. In case of anything. So he does.

Both Isaac and Liam eye their Alpha with some curiosity, and concern.

+

"And I know in my heart, Stiles, you're not just protecting me and our baby... You're protecting the entire world..."

+

Allison cries silently, tears slowly rolling down her cheek as she dabs the blood away from Kate's parted lips.

+

"Sometimes one death can spare countless others and infinite pain..."

+

Derek punches his evil self in the face. He then, kicks him hard in the chest and sends him flying down the alleyway with great force.

Kate groans, her face wincing in pain. She tries to move, to open her eyes even, but all she can manage is to crack them open ever so slightly.

"Kate! Get up!" Derek demands, glares sternly (more defiant than angrily) at her.

"I've already rolled the dice, Der." Kate whispers, smiles under hooded eyes. "Me for you."

Derek's glare only hardens as he stares defiantly down at her. Defiant to let her give up. But mostly, defiant to let her go. Because he knows he's still not over Kate. He never was.

He only wishes sorely now that he could help her, that he could just wrap his arms around her and pull her up to her feet, up to him. But he can't. This, he knows, she has to do on her own. Just like he has to.

"It's okay... I want this..." Kate whispers through heavy, tired breaths. "I want this..."

"Oh, just let her die already!" Evil Derek snarls as he lunges for himself. "She's better off and we're better off without her."

Derek ignores him, dodges him with ease, his own eyes never leaving the blonde as he does. "Kate, I used to think like that, too. That there would be a point where I finally pay my dues."

Evil Derek scoffs loudly, glares pointedly over at himself, his voice laced thickly with sarcasm as he bites out, "Anybody else here notice a big ego battle with himself?"

+

"What will I tell the others? ...What will I tell Scott? ...Or Chris? ...Or Allison?"

"They can't stop you if they don't know..."

"And what about the sanctuary spell?"

"I can fix it." She smiles. "We're special. Remember that, Stiles..."

+

Stiles quietly closes the front door behind him. He doesn't see Scott anywhere, but knows he's here. And that's okay. He knows exactly what to do. Lydia went through every step with him.

"'Te implor doemne...'"

Stiles sees the others in the living room, but they don't see him, don't even seem to notice him as he walks right passed them in the hallway.

Braeden's in her magic trance, doesn't notice him, and neither do the others as they watch the witch closely.

"'Nu ignora accasta rugaminte lasa orbita sa fie vasul care - I, va transporta sufletul la el...'"

+

"We're special, Stiles... Even you..." Her smile widens. "Special..."

+

Still fighting his evil self in the downtown Chicago alleyway, Derek sends a hard punch to the other's face.

Evil Derek goes flying back a few meters, snarling angrily all the way.

"Kate, listen to me." Derek stands before her as he waits for his next attack. "You saw me give in to the bloodlust, you saw me drink from a human. It doesn't get much lower than that." He assures her, his voice as serious as his expression. "And I thought that I could make up for what I did by just disappearing off the radar."

"I did my time, Der." Kate tells him, tries to make him understand. She doesn't feel finished, she just feels exhausted. But she doesn't want to be selfish, either.

"Our time is never up, Kate." Derek says, shoots her a pointed look. "We pay for everything, eventually. One by one."

"But it hurts..." Kate whimpers as she clutches as he suddenly blood-soaked torso. She can feel herself slowly dying, killing her from the inside out.

"I know." Derek whispers, knows all TOO well, of course. "I know..."

+

Braeden's still working her magic, her eyes still black, her crystal orb still floating freely in front of her, and the Latin words flowing expertly passed her glossy lips. "'Este scris aceasta putere este dreptul poporuli de a conduce...'"

Both Isaac's and Liam's eyes are wide as they simply watch her.

Meanwhile, Chris keeps his eyes on her for another reason. To keep her grounded. To make sure she doesn't get fucking killed. To make sure she doesn't get them ALL killed.

He knows how magic really can be, after all.

+

Stiles knows Scott already senses him as he approaches the door to the guest room. He enters calmly, casually as he closes the door quietly behind him and slowly turns to face his best friend.

"Stiles." Scott says his name as he let's out a breath of relief. "You're okay." He stands from the chair placed beside the tied up Derek, gives his brother from another mother a tired, but still bright smile.

"Yeah." Stiles nods, his voice barely above a croak. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you really, though?" Scott arches a brow as he slowly moves to stand in front of the older man. "You've been acting real odd lately. I'm really worried about you, man." He says, shoots him a soft look of concern.

"I know... But I am okay." Stiles forces a small and brief smiles, nods once. "Hey, uh, you should probably know..." He doesn't know where the strength comes from, doesn't even know how he knows, but he lashes out quickly, punches the Alpha in the face once, sends him to the floor, completely unconscious. "They haven't finished the spell yet..."

+

"Kate, get the fuck up!" Derek growls over at her as he punches his evil self in the face, then, dodges on of his attacks with ease. "You have to get up NOW! Kate, you HAVE to keep fighting! Do you understand me!?"

"I c-can't..." Kate can only let out a loud, pain-filled whimper as she curls up in a blood ball and furiously shakes her head.

Evil Derek finally manages to gain an advantage, then. Well, he more or less cheats anyway. He grabs up a metal lid of one of the dumpsters and smacks the other around the back of the head with it.

Derek groans as his face collides with the concrete hard. But at least he hasn't been knocked out, he thinks momentarily.

Evil Derek huffs loudly in annoyance as he glares down at himself, the metal lid still tight in his grip. "What WON'T I miss, huh?" He chides, briefly glaring over at the dying blonde. "The moralising? Pff! Our soul is already in the ether, rat-boy." He inhales deeply and grins. "I can smell it, now... How about I send it off to that nice, little puppy heaven in the sky?"

"Or not, psycho panties."

Evil Derek's eyes dart towards the now empty spot on the alleyway floor before he finally swirls around to see the blonde standing behind him instead.

Derek smiles as he slowly pulls himself back up onto his bare feet.

"Kate," Evil Derek grins excitedly. "Getting back into the game, I see."

"Yeah," Kate arches a brow, a thoughtful look on her face. "I guess I am, huh?"

Evil Derek's grin widens before he lunges for her. His expression instantly drops when she literally disappears before his very eyes. "Hey!" He growls angrily, glancing wildly around for her, but seeing her nowhere in sight. "THAT'S cheating, you bitch!"

Derek smirks, because he knows what's happened, of course. "It's just you and me, now..." His smirk only widens as his evil self glares back at him. "Bitch..."

+

Allison's eyes widen as she scrambles away in shock.

Kate gasps loudly for air as she bolts upright in the bed. Her eyes glance wildly around, quickly taking in her surroundings.

"Kate?" Allison doesn't know whether to be happy or utterly fucking confused. Her aunt was dying, not but moments ago.

Kate gives her niece a quick look of acknowledgement before immediately darting off of the bed and out of the room.

+

"'Asa sa fie, acum... Acum... ACUM...'"

Chris' eyes finally widen along with the two Betas' as Braeden's black orbs turn into glowing whites instead, her entire body beaming brightly, too.

+

Derek feels it before evil Derek does.

But then, they're both gasping for air and clawing to get away from one another as the bright light only seems to shove them closer together.

+

Stiles steps carefully over the Alpha, stands at the bedside at he glares down at the Beta.

"N-need you to fight..." Derek mumbles quietly, still deep in his slumber.

Stiles scoffs as he venomously mutters out, "I'm pretty clear about what you need." He reaches into his pocket, grabs the butcher's knife he soaked in wolfsbaine and raises it.

He's ready to take the first and final plunge, to make the killing blow.

For Lydia.

For their baby.

That's what he keeps telling himself anyway. No matter how wrong it all feels, deep down.


	17. Save Your Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia smiles briefly over at the idle Stiles before glancing back to the Alpha. "You MIGHT want to save your words for later..."

Allison doesn't know what the fuck is going on or how her aunt is alive, much less running about the place, but she doesn't care, she's just thankful. She follows after the blonde as quickly as she can as they race through the apartment.

"Kate?" Chris' eyes widen with shock, but quickly crease with confusion at all of the commotion. "Allison, what -"

"She's alive! It's a fricking miracle or something!" Allison squeals excitedly, gives her father a toothy grin before running after her aunt.

Kate ignores everything and everyone around her as she charges down the hallway and into the guest room. Somehow, she can sense exactly where Derek is as she bursts through the door just in time. She sees the knife in Stiles' hand, raised and ready, and quickly darts over to him, and grabs his wrist in her iron grip.

Stiles glares at her, not at all afraid by the snarl she gives him.

"I don't know what you're doing, Stiles," Kate stares calmly back at him. "But this isn't the way."

Stiles merely continues to glare, his eyes narrowing all the more.

"Scott!" Allison gasps, hurries over to unconscious wolf.

Chris, Isaac and Liam all stand just inside the doorway, all watching the scene unfold with utter confusion.

Kate smacks the knife out of the spark's hand and quickly shoves him away from Derek.

Stiles doesn't even think, he just does. He leaps forward, and punches the werejaguar hard in the face.

Kate grabs his fist when he goes to punch her again, and sends a kick to his chest, just hard enough to send him stumbling backwards. She knows all about the little loophole of the sanctuary spell - don't intend to harm, and no harm will come to you.

However, she doesn't know how Stiles IS intending to harm Derek. But maybe, she figures that it was he who cast the spell, so it's a possibility that he easily bends it to his will.

She doesn't know magic all that well, never really cared to, in fact. But it's probably a good guess on her part.

"Stiles,"

Stiles freezes, his eyes wide when he hears the familiar voice, but more importantly, feels the wolf behind him grab his by the shoulder.

Kate's eyes are wide, too, but for a whole different reason. She also can't help smiling as she stares at him.

Derek.

The real Derek.

"It's okay. It's really me." Derek says as the spark slowly turns to face him. "It's over, now. I'm back."

And more than anything, Stiles feels so fucking relieved.

+

Meanwhile, back in her studio apartment, Lydia couldn't be more pissed off.

"Alright, that's it! I am going to tear that blonde bitch apart!"

+

"Seriously, though, I am SO effing glad that you're okay, aunt Kate." Allison practically gushes and cooes over her aunt as she clings to her, like she has done for the last couple of hours.

Kate chuckles as she wraps her arms around her niece's shoulders. "Yeah, me, too, Al."

"What've I told you about calling her that? She's NOT a boy." Chris narrows his eyes at his sister, who merely smirks smugly back at him.

"Right, I'm your little princess." Allison rolls her eyes, but she can't help smiling. She's just so happy.

Chris smiles at her, and nods. "And don't you forget it."

Allison merely grins back at her father.

"How's Scotty-boy doing?" Kate asks.

"He's okay." Allison nods, frowns slightly. "He and Stiles are talking in our room."

"I wonder why he did it." Liam airs aloud, looks more confused than anyone else. "I mean, sure, I can see why he would wanna kill Derek, 'cause they hate each other or whatever, but..." He scowls. "Scott's his best friend. His brother."

"Well, hopefully we'll find out." Isaac adds.

Kate nods, slowly slipping out of her niece's grasp. "I'm gonna go check on Derek."

Allison smiles and nods.

Kate walks back to the guest room, where she finds the wolf sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window opposite. She announces her presence with a soft, "Hey." even though she knows there's no need for it.

Derek glances over his shoulder at her, smiles and returns the gesture. "Hey."

Kate walks over to him, sits beside him, their shoulders not quite touching, though, she aches for it.

Derek feels slightly awkward, though, he's still comfortable around her. He just doesn't know where they stand, now, especially after everything she knows about him now. Things that he could never have bared to tell her, but she had seen anyway.

Instead, he starts with a simple question.

"So, how're you feeling?"

"Oh," Kate sighs tiredly as she leans back and rests her palms flat on the bed. "Like I did a bunch of mushrooms and then, got eaten alive by a werewolf."

Derek chuckles softly, and nods. "Yeah, that about sums it up for me, too."

Kate smiles to herself. "Yeah."

"And now, you're gonna stay in Beacon Hills?" Derek tries to hold back on sounding so hopeful.

"Yeah. I mean, I think I prefer going back to the peace of my prison cell, but the way that Chris talks things up here," Kate shrugs. "I guess it's where I'm needed, for now."

Derek nods, smiles as he says, "Never stop fighting." Because of course he's proud of her. Even if he'll never tell her that to her face.

"Well, hey, I was gonna. But SOMEONE," Kate grins as she leans over and nudges his shoulder with her own. "Got all pep-talky on my ass."

"Hah, yeah." Derek can't help blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Anyway," He glances over at her, gives her a meaningful look. "I have a lot to thank you for."

"Please," Kate holds up a hand, tries to look annoyed, but can't help smiling. "There's plenty vice versa with that notion. Besides, if you start with all of that, it's just gonna lead to hugging and crying."

"And we can't have that." Derek smirks in amusement as they both slowly rise up to their feet.

"No, we can't, rat-boy." Kate smirks smugly, her smirk only growing when he shoots her a withering look.

+

Kate and Derek walk back into the living room just as Scott and Stiles' do, too.

"Okay, I get it." Stiles huffs, holds his hands up at his best friend and Alpha. "I messed up. I know."

"Hey, cheer up, punk. That just makes you truly one of us." Kate chirps with a grin.

Stiles can't help smiling slightly at that.

"It's fine, Stiles." Derek nods, shoots him an understanding look. "I mean, I DID almost kill you and your friends."

Stiles merely nods limply, but can't even bare to look the wolf in the eye right now.

"You heading out?" Liam asks, noticing the blonde's duffel bag thrown over her shoulder.

Kate nods. "For now. Chrissy here," She smiles at her big brother. "Is gonna help me find a place of my own."

Liam nods, grins as he walks over to her. "Well, don't be a stranger."

Kate chuckles as she bumps fists with the little Beta. "Yeah, yeah. But no tears now, big guy." She teases with a small grin of her.

Liam rolls his eyes, but can't help it when his grin widens. "Nah, I'm good, shorty." He chuckles when she arches a brow at him. "I just wish I could've seen you kick Derek's ass."

Derek shoots the pup' a playful glare.

"It was pretty funny." Kate nods, laughs at both wolves. "Braeden."

"Kate." Braeden smiles, and gives a curt nod.

Kate chuckles. "See? SHE knows how to give a real goodbye."

Braeden simply smirks.

"By the way, thanks for shoving Derek's soul back up his ass." Kate grins.

Derek glares at her, unable to control the light, but embarrassed blush that spreads across his cheeks.

At that, Braeden laughs. Both at the blonde's words and the wolf's mortified expression.

"I knew it!" Isaac exclaims, smirking smugly back over at his ex-Alpha.

Braeden snorts her amusement as she picks up her rucksack and throws it over her shoulder. "Well, thank you for the soul party, everybody. But I gotta move onto my next job. A Keykye demon clan wants me to anoint there newborn heir or something like that."

"Wow." Scott arches a brow. "Getting paid good for that?"

Braeden grins and nods. "Of course. How else do you think I could afford these finely cut and made Italian boots." She does a little spin for the group, cackling her way to the front door. "Later!"

"Well, she seems..." Isaac's brows are raised as he glances between the group. "Constantly chipper."

Chris chuckles at that. "That's Braeden." Then pauses and scowls. "But not without her creature comforts."

Isaac grins at that.

"Listen, Chris," Derek sighs heavily as he glances remorsefully towards the hunter.

Chris arches a brow, looks mostly intrigued.

"Ugh," Kate rolls her eyes, but can't help smirking. "He's just gonna tell you how sorry he is and then how thankful he is for you not giving up on him.

Derek shoots her a wither look, then sighs in defeat. "Yeah," He nods, glances back to her brother. "Pretty much."

Chris chuckles, shakes his head and puts up a halting hand. "Please, don't mention it. Ever." He scowls. "You kicked my ass a whole bunch of times."

Derek can't help smiling in amusement, even though he really does feel terrible. But he's glad that Chris doesn't hold a grudge, knows that they're pretty good friends, now, after all the shit they both went through over the years.

"Anyway, guys, I think I'm gonna go before they start kissing or something." Kate only smirks when they both glare at her. "It's been a good show."

"Yeah," Scott scoffs, smirking slightly. "I just sat back and let the girl do all the heavy lifting."

Kate smirks and nods.

"That's pretty much it, yeah." Chris laughs at that.

"Hey, uh, Kate," Stiles pipes up, barely able to look her in the eye, either. "I, uh," He hurries over to his messenger's back thrown on the couch and pulls out a couple of old-looking books. "I found a few texts that you might be interested in." He walks over to her, holds them hesitantly out to her as he adds, "One of them covers all types of were-creatures and the other is all about La Loba..."

Kate offers a small, but grateful smile as she slowly takes the books from him. "Thank you, Stiles." She nods, looks him in the eye as she adds, "I appreciate this."

Stiles merely nods back, but he does manage a small smile as he quickly backs away back to his previous spot.

+

After Scott - ever the polite gentlemen that he is - sees Chris and Kate out of the apartment, he quickly retreats to the living room where the rest of the pack still stand.

"So," Scott smiles, his eyes flickering between Derek's and the rest of his pack. "We're all back."

"It would seem so." Derek nods, smiles back at the Alpha.

"Look," Scott sighs heavily, glancing between each of them. "I know things have been -"

The front door opening and closing isn't what interrupts the Alpha - "Yeah, sorry, Scotty, but if this is another speech about how the worst is behind us..." It's mostly the familiar voice of Lydia, who stands before them all in a rather skimpy and revealing outfit.

Scott's eyes widen, because what gets him the most is the rather large pregnant bump of the banshee's swelling stomach.

Allison's eyes are the widest, Liam staring in utter confusion along with Isaac and a clearly bewildered Derek.

Lydia smiles briefly over at the idle Stiles before glancing back to the Alpha. "You MIGHT want to save your words for later..."


End file.
